Within Interest
by Silent Songbird
Summary: "Don't lie to him" Shikamaru felt the need to say, "He's observant". Ino felt her nose rumple in disbelief. "Is he?" she frowned, wondering if the Nara was joking. "Since when?" "Since always." He paused. "Especially with things that catch his interest."
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Prologue

"Gah! I can't believe I lost to forehead! Now I have to do this!"

Three friends lay on the grass, buffeted by a cool evening breeze. One sat, his fingers idly ruminating through a a bag of potato chips, before mechanically moving towards his mouth in a movement that had been so honed it was practically instinct. The other, lay on his back, his eyes opened just enough to gaze into the clouds, but not enough for his pupils to be visibly seen. The last, a girl, paced around, her hair swinging in the wind, her footsteps trampling the grasses beneath her, and her gait one of inner turmoil.

"Come on! Don't just lay there! Give me some ideas! I _can't_ do this without your help!"

The one staring at the skies closed his eyes even further, preventing his pupils from gathering any more light, as his breathing slowed on principle.

He was kicked in the ribs for his effort.

"Don't pretend to fall asleep!"

His eyes opened, his speech coming out a slow, unenthusiastic drawl, like that of a donkey who had carried two obese men across the Suna desert.

"Troublesome… you were the one who made the bet in the first place."

The girl paused in her gait, one finger raised in indignation.

"That's because I thought I'd win! Forehead cheated! She got me with an uppercut that came out of nowhere!"

"How was that cheating?"

"It – it, well I don't _know_! All I know is, there's no way she could have beaten me in a fair fight!"

The boy eating the potato chips rubbed his cheek with his finger, his momentary reprieve from his favorite snack was provided with the need to be in the loop - he played the mediator amongst the trio, neither too hot-headed to listen to reason, nor too relax to abstain from taking actions.

"Um… what was the bet about?"

The girl seemed to turn green at the memory. Her face soured as though she'd taken a bite out of an unripe lemon, her fists clenched, balled and released and her body swayed in place, as though beseeched by seasickness.

"The loser has ask out… _Naruto_."

The big-boned boy had his eyes widen, and the sleepy one merely muttered a simple word under his breath.

"Troublesome."

"I know! Just think! Asking out that loudmouthed, hyperactive, idiot in that horrible orange tracksuit!" she shuddered in place. "I can't be seen doing _that_!"

The girl plopped onto the grass, causing the pineapple haired boy to stare, curiously, as his friend had not bothered about the grass stains, nor had she complained about ruining her dress nor whined about the possibilities of biting insects moving through the hearty green flora.

"Don't do it Ino." The boy said, "What do you stand to lose?"

"It's either that or give up on Sasuke-kun, and leave him to forehead."

The boy said nothing, letting the atmosphere be filled with the comfortable sound of crackling potato chips. It echoed in the background constantly, like a symphony that could not be changed, and like an accompanying orchestra that reminded the boy of the companionship to which he was privileged.

"I know!" Ino sprung to her feet, slamming her fist into her palm "I'll confess all sorts of feelings for Naruto – that way, he'll be the one to ask me out!"

"Um…" the silent boy occupying himself with his chips spoke up "I don't think that's such a good idea Ino…"

"What do you mean Choji? It's flawless! I don't think Shikamaru here could come up with a better plan! I mean, I still have to make him believe I like him ––"

"Don't lie to him" Shikamaru felt the need to say, "He's observant".

Ino felt her nose rumple in disbelief.

"Is he?" she frowned, wondering if the Nara was joking. "Since when?"

"Since always." He paused. "Especially with things that catch his interest."

Ino huffed, putting her hand on her waist. "I'll be the judge of that."

The pineapple-haired boy let out a single, slow nod. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

~~~~~Within Interest~~~~~~

Finding him was the hardest part, it was especially harder to track him down to a recluse location, one in which she knew billboard brow and a group of other girls would be watching from the bushes, probably ready to watch her make a fool of herself.

She had hoped she'd be the one watching the pink-haired bimbo ask Naruto out, it would have been the most hilarious thing to watch as the blond would have been so ecstatic, ignorant of the girl's own dismay.

"Um… Naruto-kun?"

"Huh? Ino?" The blond stared at her, looking both left and right as though uncertain "You talkin' to me?"

Ino felt her anger bubble up, but let it slide low. "I don't think there's any other person named Naruto in Konoha, is there?"

The boy put his hands behind his head and let out an awkward laugh that almost made Ino cringe.

"Yeah! I'm the one and only Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo!"

Ino desperately wished the Shinigami would take her there and then.

"So… Naruto-kun, there's something I wanted to tell you…"

"Huh? Really?"

"You see… Naruto-kun, I've been watching you for a while now, and I didn't want to tell you this… but I…"

The words formed in her mouth, as she stared at the inquisitive blue eyes of the shorter blond, she found herself wondering why they would not come forth. Maybe it was something odd about how his eyes seemed to examine her, or how they lit up with an emotion she could not quite recognize, or perhaps, it was the giggling of the girls she could hear that made her uncertain of how to proceed.

"I…"

She didn't quite understand it herself, this was _Naruto_ of all people… he bounced back from anything… so what if she was going to get his hopes up and lie to his face… she shouldn't care, it shouldn't matter to her… It's not like she was going to break his heart or anything… so why was she unable to find the right words to say?

"Hey Ino!"

The sudden exclamation, threw her off guard, and she found him staring at her with a concentrated gaze she did not know he had possessed.

"Y-yes?"

"Go out on a date with me! To Ichiraku Ramen!"

The girl could not have been any more floored if the Hokage himself had pranced by on a unicycle.

"W-what?"

"I know it's kinda sudden – but you're a really cool person ya know? I mean, we've both got awesome blond hair – though mine is way cooler – and I think you're pretty."

She idly wondered if one of her clan members had taken over Naruto's body with the Clan Jutsu and made him say those words, but instead, she shook it off as the universe being in her favor on this odd particular occasion.

Naruto had asked _her_ out on a date, hence, she couldn't ask him out anymore – the bet was null and void.

She was free!

Ino regained a bit of her confidence, placing her hand on her hips. "No way! Why in the world would I want to go out with you? I mean, wanting to date someone just because you think they're good-looking? That's really shallow of you Naruto."

"But…" He paused. "…Isn't that the same reason why you like Sasuke-teme?"

"What! No way! I like Sasuke-kun because he's strong and he's cool and he's… he's… he's…"

Words, fickle as they were, failed her. She had an extensive vocabulary of terms that focused on the mind, on plants, on animals, and yet, despite her collective accumulation of adjectives used to describe things which were beautiful - she remained speechless.

"Fine then…" Naruto said, crossing his arms and turning around "Good luck with the teme - you two deserve each other."

It was strange, as to how those words seem to sting much more than she thought possible.

* * *

It was not every day Umino Iruka chose to treat Naruto out to dinner, and it was even rarer for him to offer to pay up the boy's backed-up debts, but, as he had found out from the resident gossip amongst the student's, Naruto had asked out the young Yamanaka heiress and he had been brutally turned down.

Though not exactly possessing sagely wisdom in the art of romance, the Chunin Teacher felt that the young boy needed some company – or at the very least, needed some ramen to make him bounce back to his usual self.

Which happened the very second the first bowl appeared.

"Oi! Teuchi-jiji! You out of toppings? My ramen's looking a little thin!"

Iruka bopped him over the head. "Baka! Don't be so ungrateful! To think I actually offered to treat you to ramen after the pranks you pulled in class last week."

Naruto's lips turned into a semi-indignant pout.

"But-but the broth is like, ten percent smaller than it was yesterday! And the toppings and portions are smaller as well!"

Iruka's eyes twitched. "I think it's just your appetite that's grown bigger."

"Haha, Naruto-kun is kind of right."

Iruka's eyebrow rose.

"He is?

"I am?"

Teuchi nodded, slowly. "Our usual delivery boy is a little late with the order, so I had to cut corners for the Ramen – I'm sorry about that –"

Iruka waved him off, "It's nothing. I barely noticed the difference – only a ramen-holic like Naruto would realize it."

"Ramen is the food of the gods and everything about it is divine dattebayo!" Naruto said, grinning "I know everything there is to know about Ichiraku Ramen!"

Iruka snorted. "Sure, sure, and I'm certain you can _tell_ how many toppings are in my –"

"Fourteen!"

Iruka blinked. He stared down at his bowl, and counted, and found himself baffled at the blond getting the accurate number.

"Lucky guess."

Naruto shook his head as he scarfed down more ramen. "Not luck!"

"Oh really? Then how many strands of noodles are left in my –"

"Thirty-eight!"

Iruka stared into his bowl, slowly counting with his chopsticks, one by one, until he reached the exact number Naruto mentioned.

"H-how did you know that?"

"Teuchi-jiji usually has a fixed number of strands per bowl. It's enough to leave you satisfied, but not too much that it'll make you leave it unfinished." He said between slurps "And, you eat _really_ slow Iruka-sensei."

It was _ridiculous_ , to know the exact number of noodles in a bowl, and the speed required to actually consume said noodles, so Iruka found himself staring at Naruto, his mind trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed.

"Naruto, how many people have visited Ichiraku Ramen today alone?"

"Hm?" Naruto took a huge slurp out of his bowl "Sixty or so. Why?"

Iruka glanced to Teuchi and Ayame, and their widened eyes spoke more loudly than any verbal confirmation they could have possibly uttered.

"How did you know that?"

"Ayame-nee's sleeves are folded up."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything! Teuchi-jiji's sink is kind of deep, Ayame-nee doesn't really need to fold her sleeves all the way up to her elbow in order to wash the dishes. The only time she'd need to do that is when there are tons of dishes available and she's put them all in. She folds her sleeve so they don't fall into the filled sink and get wet, and also to make it easier for her to wash."

Iruka's mouth felt dry.

"But… that just tells you that they've been a lot of customers. How did you guess Fifty?"

"Because Ayame-nee has also been cooking," Naruto said "Teuchi-jiji only ever lets Ayame-nee join him to prepare Ramen when there are more customers than he can handle. And he's no slouch! He can take on six at a time, but if it gets too much, Ayame-nee helps him out."

Naruto paused, placing a hand on his chin "Also, today's Monday, so there are usually about eight or eleven customers in the morning, and around lunch time, this place is filled really fast, that adds around twenty to thirty customers coming and going. Then after classes are over and in the evenings, there are fewer customers, but still enough to guess around sixty."

The sound of the kettle blowing was the only noise in the restaurant.

"H-how did you know Ayame-san had been cooking?"

"Huh? What do you mean? She's got her apron on and everything – and look, those are miso soup stains on them!"

Iruka found himself feeling light-headed and slightly dazed, more so when he realized that Naruto, _Naruto_ of all people and of all his students, was subconsciously using inductive and deductive techniques to glimmer information about things around him, and he didn't even realize it.

He took in several deep breaths, before he decided to calm himself.

"Naruto, how many major hidden villages do we have?"

"Er…" the blond boy looked sheepish as he scratched his head "…Two?"

"How is it that -!" Iruka had to calm himself and lower his voice "How is it that you can _accurately_ guess how many customers have visited Ichiraku Ramen, and how many strands of noodles are in my bowl, but you don't know how many major hidden villages we have in the Elemental Nations?!"

"Because I don't care about that stuff! Who cares how many there are? Konoha is the greatest dattebayo!"

Iruka sighed, shaking his head. Maybe he was just reading too much into things – Naruto spent most of his hours at Ichiraku Ramen, and had more hours at the establishment than he probably did at his own home. With so much time spent there, it would explain his ability to pick out all the littlest details and things that happened around there with alarming detail and frightening efficiency.

It wasn't like Naruto was some sort of hidden genius or anything. No, the very notion sounded utterly preposterous.

A thought _did_ however stumble unto the Chunin's mind, and for a few seconds, he contemplated it.

"Hey Naruto, tell me about how you do your pranking."

Naruto stopped, staring at him suspiciously for several seconds. "If this is a trick to find out where I keep my gear Iruka-sensei –"

Iruka put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No tricks. I'm genuinely curious. Some of your pranks must take careful planning and deliberation, I wonder how you got into it."

"Well…"

Two hours later, Iruka was regretting his decision to ask. While he had been hoping to gain some more insight into Naruto's apparent analytical and deductive abilities, it seemed that those abilities only registered or came up when it came to Ichiraku Ramen, or anything Ramen-related. Instead of finding out more about his student's mind, he was treated to a lecture on the different types of itching powder, the best paints to use for brighter colors, how to carefully set up feather traps and all sorts of other information that the Chunin truly was not interested in.

"And then, you have to make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly or the itching powder might still be on you –"

"That's great Naruto – wow, look at the time. I've got some scripts to mark and you've got to get ready for school tomorrow."

"But I haven't told how to use the rubber chicken yet!"

Iruka nodded, slowly. "No need, you seem to have a mastery of pranking that I don't think I can achieve anytime soon."

Naruto blushed before rubbing the back of his head with his arm "Really?"

"Of course. And if you applied those pranking skills of yours to your shinobi knowledge, you might even make a brilliant strategist or trap master someday."

Naruto's face furrowed up in confusion "What does pranking have to do with being a shinobi?"

"Well… information gathering, reconnaissance, stealth, and the likes. Instead of say, planting a stink bomb in someone's house, imagine instead, planting an _actual_ bomb – or some knock out gas instead."

Iruka watched as the gears began slowly turning in Naruto's head.

"So I can prank people, just using deadlier and cooler stuff… and I could become a great shinobi for doing it?"

"Er… sure, I don't see why not."

"Maybe… I could even become the Hokage that way!"

Iruka placed his hand on the boy's head and tussled his hair.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Naruto. You'll need to make sure you _don't_ fail the Academy this time around, and actually _learn_ things – we can't have a Hokage who doesn't know how many hidden villages exist, now can we?"

Naruto said nothing, instead, his mind was whirling with ideas and thoughts, and slowly, but surely, a small spark of flame had lit itself within him.

And that, would make all the difference.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Strange, the idea for this 'experiment' came while reading for a three-unit course exam... which I have next monday. Unfortunately, my mind would not focus to study until I had this written out - and here it is.**

 **In any case, the premise of this story is pretty simple - "What if Naruto was _really_ observant? Just that it only had to do with things that were within his interest?"**

 **I'm talking Sherlock Holmes level observant here, not just any normal level. And of course, many people have tried and succeeded in writing a Genius!Naruto fic, but I'm trying to write one which is more subtle - and which hopefully stays true to the character's nature.**

 **With that, I need to head back to study for exams... so kindly please review.**

 _ **Silent**_ **_Songbird._**


	2. Inquisition I

**Disclaimer: A simple application of reasoning would tell you that if I did in fact own Naruto, I would not be writing this story. Because really, what author would write fan fiction about his own work? But now that you mention it... *scurries off to find such authors***

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 **[+] Within Interest [+]**

 **Arc I: Inquisition**

* * *

Umino Iruka loved his Home.

It was a place where he was free from the troublesome nuances that were the lovable brats he called his students, a place where he did not have to scream out his lungs to get people to listen to the things he wanted to say, a place where he could put on his nice bunny fur slippers without hearing any snickers from resident class clowns, and pick up a book to read without screeches from fangirls. It was the most relaxing place in the world, where he could, occasionally practice his Shurikenjutsu without getting snorts from over-achieving black-haired geniuses, and could likewise have freedom from the eccentricities of his superior commanding officers.

Home was truly a place to be.

It was for that reason, that when Iruka had tucked into his bed at night, switched off his lamp, and said goodnight to his collection of unique plushy dolls, he had expected nothing else more than utter silence and pure, unending tranquility.

"Psst! Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka's mellow eyes answered with a soft sigh. Of course, his subconscious would choose now of all times to mess with him and give him a dream about Naruto. Oh no, he wasn't going to let his mind win. He'd play along for now and see where this went.

"Yes Naruto?"

"Um… you mentioned recon and uh… information gathering… does that mean it's okay to spy on people in the village? Like say uh… Hokage-jiji?"

Iruka almost giggled. Like Naruto would actually have listened to what he said and then snuck into his house at two am to ask such a question. The dream was just too funny to be true.

"Sure Naruto… it's all part of being a good trap master… best to have as much information on everyone as you need."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei! You're the best!"

Naruto complementing him? Iruka did _giggle_ this time around.

"Sure, sure. Don't forget to close the window on your way out."

"I will."

There was a shuffle of movement, and suddenly, the sound of his window pane closing reached the Chunin's ears.

It took him four seconds for his eyes to snap open as he realized that his dream had been far too realistic.

He turned to the window, finding the curtain drawn open, and then he shook his head as he rolled back into bed. It was too much of a hassle to go find the blond boy and tell him that it was probably not a good idea to try and spy on people in a _shinobi_ village, but he figured the blond wouldn't get very far in his attempt anyway.

Besides, it was _Naruto_ , what were the odds of him sneaking around the strongest shinobi in the entire village?

* * *

Observation.

The act or process of observing someone or something carefully in order to gain information. The process of observation was a tool which multiple shinobi relied upon in order to actively succeed in the field. One could even go as far as saying that it was the only thing that kept them alive, an unobservant shinobi was a dead shinobi, and that was a fact. Or at least, that used to be the way things were.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he walked into his office, feeling his legs which had seen the dust of three shinobi wars weaken, and he gazed upon his desk with a cornucopia of mixed feelings and emotions.

It was a shame, having come from another insufferable meeting made him realize just how much the shinobi world had changed. Back in the times of Warring Clans Era, shinobi were not necessarily the up and go supernatural fighters that they were today. No, then, they relied purely on stealth, subterfuge, and assassinations. Living in that era meant always looking up, even when outside in broad daylight and on a large grassy plain several kilometers in length. It meant being cautious about every puddle of mud that you passed or about every shadow that so much as seemed to be moving in a suspicious manner. It meant always making sure you switched your drink with another one before taking it, and abandoning any plate of food which your eyes had strayed away from even for the briefest of seconds. Failure to do any of these, would often end with one gracing upon the shining blade of the Shinigami, and wondering what had happened.

The Sandaime Hokage sat, taking a brief sigh as he stared out into the empty office, his table filled with various documents, some half-done, others waiting neatly to be signed, from important tasks like changing the ANBU patrol teams to utterly trivial requests like demanding for a subsidy for kunai traders. Trivial anyway, compared to other papers which had stamps from the Daimyo and contained sensitive materials which could and would easily incriminate Konoha for the mysterious 'disappearances' of many of the Daimyo's rivals.

The man shook his head, partially wondering when and why the days of shinobi had rapidly changed from being creatures of the night, to being flashy show-offs capable of setting forests on fire and utterly remodeling the landscape with their battles. In this era, the prominence of stealth and subterfuge had taken a nosedive, and every young child who entered the academy dreamed of making tsunamis and causing thunderstorms – it was only when reality came crashing down as many lacked the chakra capacity for such feats, did they eventually settle for more mediocre positions.

Alas, the Hokage stopped his musing, realizing that such thought were wasted on an old man like him anyway, it seemed that there was a new generation afloat, and soon enough he would become nothing but a relic. Shrugging, he ensured that there was none of his ANBU in his office, before allowing a small, somewhat excited smile to come up to his face as he stared at the bottommost drawer of his table.

He may not often appreciate his student's conduct when it dealt with women, but even he could not deny that the man wrote some very… _interesting_ materials.

He reached for the drawer, and slowly, but surely, he pulled it open, his perverted grin widening slightly.

If asked about the event later on, Hiruzen Sarutobi would deny ever being surprised, however, it did not mean that he was not surprised, as his eyes widened to levels that would cause even Dojutsu wielders like the Hyuga to feel uncomfortable, as the drawer opened, and consequently, his face was filled with the cold, but not entirely unpleasant texture of what he instantly recognized as a banana cream pie.

He stared, ludicrous, as the plate of pie slid off his face, and landed onto the ground with a slow, methodic thump, and it just so happened, that the loud sound triggered the ANBU agents outside who burst in, eyes searching for any intruder.

The two agents, paused, staring at their Hokage, and though Hiruzen could most definitely not see through their porcelain masks, he was certain that they were doing everything possible not to show their mirth.

It wasn't every day you saw the Hokage's face plastered with pie.

"Are you two going to stand there and stare at me or would you like to taste the Hokage's pie?"

His words seemed to jar them, and it was almost like he was _daring_ them to laugh. Yes… laugh at the man who could demote you to a Genin and make you spend the rest of your entire military career scooping dog poop… go on, laugh.

Thankfully, they had more common sense than that, and the female ANBU, Codenamed Neko, had the decency of handing him a fresh towel.

The Old Man cleaned the cake from his face with the towel, before placing it down, his eyes doing their best to refuse twitching in annoyance. There was one person who would actually have the gall, the means, and the motive to think about pranking him, and though somehow he had never been the target of his pranks, Sarutobi Hiruzen was going to make it clear that one does not simply shove pie in the Hokage's face and get away with it.

"Bring me Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

His ANBU vanished with the familiar gust of wind that indicated the Shunshin Technique, and the Sandaime Hokage let himself sit back with a sigh. He had never had to truly berate or reprimand Naruto for anything before, but there were some lines that could not be crossed. The mere fact of breaking into his office to –

Hiruzen blinked.

How _had_ the pranking menace entered his office to set up the pie in the first place? It was impossible to do so from the back windows, they were firmly locked and had been so for a while. There was no way his secretary would have let him in, let alone the entire Chunin workstation that aided in organizing Missions.

He opened up the drawer once more, staring at the contraption that was within it which had aided in launching the pie. A weak string, with some sort of makeshift pulley device attached to the handle, along with a large metal spring. The sting would activate the pulley when he opened the drawer, and the pulley would in turn fire the string.

The Hokage wasn't stupid. There was a creeping chill that came upon him once he realized how _easily_ it would have been to substitute the pie for a kunai, or the trap for a loaded crossbow, and he would be dead.

Hiruzen took in a deep breath, finding his pipe idly laying on the table, before reaching for it, stuffing it with the required fuel and putting it to his lips, igniting it with a small fire technique, and letting the acrid taste of the smoke permeate his tongue, before he blew it into the air and leaned back into his chair.

They were in a time of relative peace granted, and no one would be able to maintain their sanity for too long if they acted as though every single thing and every single one was out to get them, whilst even in the comfort of their own village, and comfort of their own _office_ , but had he truly become _that_ lax?

It seemed he would need to start training again.

The office was filled with a brief poof of smoke, and the familiar blond menace known as Uzumaki Naruto appeared before him, grinning like a maniac as he was held by two ANBU agents.

Sarutobi steeled his features.

"Naruto – "

Whatever he was about to say was cut in half by the boy's boisterous shout.

"About time jiji! You ended your meeting _way_ later than normal today! I almost thought the prank failed!"

Hiruzen was able to dissect the boy's sentences, and the semantic meanings he attained from them being heavier than the words themselves. In reverse order, Naruto was outright admitting that the prank was his, then, he was admitting to possessing prior knowledge about the fact that he was in a meeting, and lastly, he was _anticipating_ being called to the office.

Hiruzen stopped whatever he was going to say, his steeled features softening for a bit as he shook his head.

"Why did you put the pie in my drawer Naruto-kun?"

The boy smiled as though what he did was not an action that would get people executed in other villages.

"I wanted to see you!"

Hiruzen blinked. "You wanted to see me?"

Naruto nodded.

Hiruzen looked at the two ANBU, giving them the signal that they could leave, and they vanished in a puff of smoke that left stars in Naruto's eyes.

"Cool! Jiji, can you teach me how to do that?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "Later Naruto, for now, explain yourself. If you wanted to see me you could simply just walk in and ask."

Naruto gave an exasperated groan.

"I did try it Jiji! I usually come by whenever you're not in a meeting, but all I get is," he increased the pitch of his voice to an eerily close resemblance of that of his female secretary "'You can't see the Hokage without booking an appointment' or 'Hokage-sama isn't here right now' or 'Hokage-sama is currently resting,' or 'Shouldn't you be in the academy right now,' and all that junk!"

Hiruzen allowed a small smile to come up to his face. "It cannot be helped Naruto-kun, being the Hokage is an extremely time-taking endeavor."

Naruto rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, sighing. "Hai, I know jiji, you told me that the last time you visited me."

The Sandaime was about to ask ' _I did_?', but he was stopped by the stab of guilt which caught him.

He couldn't even remember the last time he had visited the young boy's apartment, but he knew for a fact that it hadn't been in months at the very best and years at worst. Even on the boy's birthdays, he always found himself too occupied to so much as drop in for a visit… hells, he couldn't even remember the last time he gave him a _birthday present_.

It wasn't exactly _neglect_ , as the heaven knew that he had done his best where the boy was concerned, though, it was not enough. Sometimes the man wondered why Naruto looked up to him with such respect and reverie, heaven knew that he was undeserving of it.

He coughed into his hand, searching for a way to dissect the topic. "What else did I tell you?"

"Huh?" the blond seemed to stall at the odd question, before scratching his chin "Well… you told me to clean up my apartment, and that one of the steps to being Hokage is being neat and organized."

He smiled. "I suppose that is true. It's one of those things you'll have to build up over the years –"

"What d'ya mean? I'm neat! And organized!"

The Hokage's eyes crinkled in mirth. "Really?"

"Hell yeah! My apartment floor is so shiny I could eat ramen off it!" he gave a grin before pausing "The only reason I don't is because ramen is too divine to touch the floor."

The Hokage let out a small chuckle. He however, had not lost sight of the numerous questions that were in his head.

"Naruto-kun, how did you know I was in a meeting?"

"Huh?" the ramen addict squinted his eyes in a manner that made him look as though he was a fox "Everyone knows when you're in a meeting."

No, no they did not. Knowing when the Hokage was and was not in his office was sensitive information, as it would be very easy for an enemy shinobi to utilize that information for a trap, just as Naruto had utilized the information to stage his prank.

"Just humor me Naruto-kun."

The blond scratched his cheeks before shrugging. "I used to visit the tower almost every day jiji. Whenever you're out, you can always see the Chunin guys at the front desk lounging off, and when I meet your secretary, she says you're not in or 'unavailable'. When you're here, the front desk guys get all super-Chunin and serious with their work and stuff, and your secretary either says you're tired, or I have to book an appointment."

Hiruzen's lips thinned, and he made a mental note to question his secretary later, as well as to schedule some impromptu arrivals for his Chunin.

It was a theory, but he just felt the need to confirm it.

"Naruto-kun, on Thursdays at twelve, what would I be doing?"

The blond looked at him. "Huh? Well, I guess you'd be out till around three."

Hiruzen's breath stilled. "And Saturdays, at that time?"

Naruto's nose upturned in the air. "You'd either go out for lunch or order for some take-out. You never order Ichiraku Ramen though and that sucks jiji. It's always either fish balls or onigiri –"

He could feel his heart beat rise. "H-how" he calmed himself, clearing his throat as his voice became more leveled. "Naruto-kun, did you know what I usually order?"

Naruto frowned. "Cause I usually see the Chunin who come back in with the takeout."

"What makes you believe that the takeout was mine?"

Naruto scratched his chin. "It's kinda weird and wrong for Chunin to buy takeout and bring it back to the tower and eat it here… when they coulda just used the time spent to buy takeout to ya know, _eat_ out?"

Hiruzen slowly nodded. "Yes… that's true."

Hiruzen watched as the resident prankster seemed to stare at him with something in his eyes akin to recognition and curiosity, and if the Hokage did not know better, he would claim that the boy's eyes gained a certain level of depth and focus to them, resonating brilliantly in a manner that he had only ever seen from geniuses the likes of Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Itachi and most frighteningly, Orochimaru.

Then as soon as it appeared, it was gone, and the blond boy squinted his eyes, crossed his arms behind his head and pouted. "Oi, what's up jiji? I mean, everyone notices these things and it's no big deal right?"

The Sandaime simply stared at him, snapping out of his bizarre trance as he realized, that clearly the young boy did not realize _memorizing the Hokage's Schedule_ was in fact, a very big deal. That was not even counting, _knowing_ what the Hokage would eat.

Slowly, stirring deep within him, Hiruzen Sarutobi found himself reinvigorated, as that spark, the display of what he had thought long lost in the ways of shinobi, _keen observation_ , had seemingly been brought out in full force, in the most unexpected and unlikely of persons.

Hiruzen shook his head. He had established that Naruto knew his schedule like he knew the back of his hand, which was unexpected, but not overwhelming impossible. Human beings were creatures of habit and pattern, you did things at expected and designated times, and most people had a routine that they followed everyday – wake up at a certain time, train at a certain time, eat at a certain time – which could not just be abandoned otherwise one's life would be in utter disarray.

What Hiruzen could not for the life of him figure out was how Naruto had entered his office in the first place. A question he did not hesitate to ask.

"Oh! That's simple, I Henged into a broomstick and let the cleaners carry me in this morning."

Hiruzen's eyebrows rose greatly. "Naruto-kun, that is not how the Transformation technique works."

Naruto's eyes squinted. "Nani?"

"The Henge is a weaker class Genjutsu and all it does is allow you to apply an illusionary layer over yourself that merely looks like a different thing." The Hokage picked up his pipe, letting himself drag from it. "If the Henge was a solid transformation, every shinobi with access to it would use it to grant themselves shape-shifter abilities like turning their hands into swords."

Naruto's eyes gleamed, and Hiruzen regretted his utterance upon noticing the look in the resident prankster's eyes which practically yelled 'Challenge Accepted'. " _Henge!_ "

Hiruzen could only let his pipe fall from his lips as he watched a single, one-edged, ANBU-edition katana appear in front of him with a burst of smoke, eliminating the boy in its place.

The Hokage moved rose up, feeling his ankles groan slightly as he reached the blade, grabbing it, and actually _swinging_ it around like it was an actual sword. He put his hand to the edge and actually watched as a small trail of blood emerged from the cut.

"Amazing."

He placed the sword down and it transformed back into the blond, who was grinning with an "I-told-you-so" expression on his face.

"You're oversaturating the technique with chakra."

"Over-what?"

"You have very large chakra reserves Naruto, as a result, you're oversaturating your techniques."

His tone took on one which befitted his title as 'The Professor' "Fundamentally, when you oversaturate a technique like say, a fireball, all you would get would be a roaring wildfire, and likewise when you oversaturate something like a water gun, you would get a tsunami. Of course, this lack of control and precision is expected with elemental techniques, but the Henge isn't an Elemental Jutsu. Hence, all the excess chakra had nowhere else to go but back into the technique, granting the illusion tangibility and giving you the properties of whatever you transformed into, though I highly doubt it grants you the same durability."

Hiruzen finished, expecting to find Naruto either looking at him with awestruck eyes, or with orbs clearly lost in confusion, but instead, what he found was that same focused look again, one that seemed to wield a surprising amount and made his orbs look like the view of the ocean from across a horizon.

"But… then why can't I make a single stupid Bunshin! Shouldn't I be making like thousands of them instead?"

"You are having problems with the Bunshin technique? That's the first I've heard of this."

"The stupid thing is the reason I failed the graduation exam!"

Hiruzen rubbed his beard as his eyes slowly closed in contemplation. "Show me."

He watched as Naruto moved into the familiar seal, feeling the _massive_ build up of chakra before the room was engulfed in smoke. " Bunshin!"

Once the smoke cleared, Hiruzen spotted four pale, lifeless facsimiles surrounding the boy, none of which would be capable of fooling infants for even a split second.

"I see. The technique requires less chakra, and oversaturating it causes it to lose its effectiveness as the illusions have more chakra than they actively need to function. Think of it as having more blood in your body than your heart can properly pump and process; you will not pop immediately, but you certainly will not operate at normal capacity."

Naruto frowned, staring at the man. "So how do I fix it?"

The Hokage rubbed his chin. "Simple. You simply need to utilize better Chakra Control exercises. The greater the control of chakra you have, the less likely you are to oversaturate your techniques."

He walked over to the wall, where portraits of Hokages past hung, and moved aside his own portrait to reveal a safe within it. He turned the dial, the numbers still clear in his head before swinging it open.

He began searching, pulling from within it several files before he eventually found one dusty, extremely faded looking sealing scroll. He looked at the scroll, contemplating it for a few seconds, the memories which the scroll possessed and their sheer nostalgic value for a brief moment, seemed to overwhelm the pragmatic use of handing it to the boy and passing on of knowledge to the future generation.

Shaking his head, he eventually handed over the scroll to Naruto. The boy seemed smart enough to be able to work with it, and he wasn't a shinobi just yet, merely an academy student.

"Huh?"

"That, Naruto-kun, contains what I used to teach my pupils, several years ago. From different jottings and notes, to the very basics of chakra control, all of it, is yours to peruse."

Naruto stared at him with wide eyes.

"Y-you're giving me this? I-I don't know what to say jiji, no one's ever given me anything like this before…"

Hiruzen's heart clenched. "Well Naruto-kun, consider it a gift from me to you. Once you graduate from the Academy and become a Genin, feel free to come by and I just might teach you a jutsu or two."

"Really?!"

He winked at him. "I _am_ called the Professor, Naruto-kun. I think it would only be fitting for me to 'profess' as much knowledge as I can."

He did not quite anticipate the hug from the young boy as he tackled his leg, before letting out a melancholic smile as he patted his head.

"Thanks jiji! You're the best!"

"Think nothing of it." Hiruzen said, as Naruto detatched himself from him.

"So Naruto-kun, why exactly did you want to see me that would make you resort to trapping pies in my office?"

Naruto tilted his head in seeming confusion. "I just wanted to see you… do I need a reason to want to see you?"

Hiruzen opened his mouth, and then he closed it, a warm feeling entering him that he had long since forgotten.

"No."

The Hokage smiled.

"I suppose you don't."


	3. Inquisition II

**I do not own Naruto. If I did, the side cast would have gotten way more limelight and I would have spent Shippuden exploring the culture and backgrounds of the world and the other shinobi villages rather than focusing on Akatsuki. If Naruto was an open world game, it would be such a vast world with so little content...**

* * *

"Aburame Shino."

"Here."

"Abashi Tenma."

"Hai Sensei."

"Binshi Roku"

"Present!"

Yamanaka Ino took in a series of deep breaths as she decided to calm herself. She was a member of the Yamanaka Clan which prided itself in its mind arts, and as such, she, as well as numerous others privy to the intricacies and delicacies of the clan's workings were expected to keep a level head, and to calmly analyze any and all scenarios which came before her.

The Jonin you would find angrily snarling as he kicked a stone down the street and brandished his kunai at any minor offence was more than often, troubled, and his temporary anger which he displayed was not an enduring personality trait, but rather, more than likely it was a standalone feature that had arose due to external circumstances.

"Hyuga Hinata."

"H-hai sensei."

"Inuzuka Kiba.'

"I'm here sensei!"

"Arf! Arf!"

Her father had taught her more than once, to always keep an eye on the people around her, as that was how you knew the 'good' shinobi from the 'bad' ones, and it was always best to avoid getting on the bad sides of certain individuals who may or may not be deemed 'unstable'. He had also told her, not to judge others, as well as to avoid having any undue prejudice against people, because no one existed with their entire life stories trailing behind them, and as such, they all had different reasons or motivations for one thing or another.

This of course, did not mean that Yamanaka Ino was able to take all that advice to heart, especially when it did her absolutely no damned good.

"Uchiha Sasuke"

"…here."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Silence.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

Ino did her best to try and remain unflappable, desperately fighting the urge to shrink into her seat with all vehemence. Of course, the dog-breath just had to have noticed it, as he gave her what she easily considered to be the sixth most irritating grin in existence, as he spoke up.

"Naruto _still_ hasn't shown up for class Mizuki-sensei!" the canine enthusiast yelled out, once more speculating the rumors that went flying around the class.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah! It's been three weeks since we had to deal with the orange idiot! Ha! I guess we have you to thank for that Ino!"

Once more, Ino resisted the urge to shrink as the eyes of everyone in the class fell upon her. Sasuke-kun was staring at her! He was actually looking her direction, which, on any other occasion, would have made her feel giddy with joy, but his eyes were not looking at her in the same way she would have wanted him to.

Of course, she was Yamanaka Ino, so despite her own inner thoughts, she ensured, meticulously, that her own body language and outward appearance constantly maintained the aura and look of someone who was utterly self-assured, utterly confident, and did not, for even the briefest of seconds doubt herself.

"I don't know what you're on about mutt-face!"

He growled. "Yeah right! You think we didn't hear 'bout how the blond knucklehead asked you out and you turned him down flat cold?"

The mumbles and rumors were spreading to a level she did not find herself particularly comfortable with.

"So? He asks forehead over there out on a daily basis, and she turns him down all the time!"

Said pink-haired bimbo let out a shout of indignation at being called 'forehead' that Ino promptly ignored.

"Well 'cept she never turned him down hard enough for the idiot to just up and vanish for three weeks! Hell, I haven't even seen him around the _ramen_ stand that he loves like it's his mother!"

 _Correlation does not equal causation_ , she had wanted to say, but she restrained her tongue from emitting the initial consonant because she knew that it would go over Kiba's head, and more importantly than that, it would only either mean that Shikamaru had been rubbing off on her more than she would like, or that she was another nerd like forehead-girl.

"And how is any of it _my_ fault? For all we know he could have just woken up one day and decided to drop out!"

"Geez I don't get you," Kiba said, scowling "It's not like the knucklehead ever had any real hopes of becoming a shinobi, and I'm sure even Academy Teachers have tried more than once to get him to quit – but you managed to pull it off with a few words, so why the hell won't you take the credit?"

Yamanaka Ino blinked, then rapidly resisted the urge to yell and instead bit the inside of her cheek. _Take the credit_? She was supposed to be _proud_ of harshly turning down Naruto's enthusiastic, bubbly request for a date? To feel accomplished that she had shot down someone's confident advances, when there were numerous hopeless romantics out there who would never even possess a shred of that same courage to brazenly ask out someone they fancied? She stared at Kiba, wondering if the boy even fully understood the implications of what he was saying, and she sorely doubted that he did.

What she found doubly disconcerting however, was that there were numerous other people in the class, who for one reason or another, actually _shared_ in Kiba's sentiments.

For kami's sake, no matter how annoying or how bright or how obnoxious Naruto was, the boy had done literally _nothing_ wrong for people to feel completely vindicated by the fact that he was potentially heartbroken enough to stop coming to school.

But she did not voice that. No. She was not a person easily cowed by peer pressure, but she was a person who cared about her image. The knuckleheads around her would one day in nearest future possibly be her teammates that she would need to rely on in the field, and as such, it was best to move with the flow of the crowd, to be of the same mind regarding certain topics, and to ensure that she was not viewed too differently or ostracized.

Idly, her mind noted a lesson her father had once showed her, during one of their clan training sessions. A brief experiment where he had brought up three kunai, two of them were twelve inches and one was eleven, and then showed it to a group of eight volunteers, asking them to pick the shortest. Seven of the volunteers were in on the experiment, and all picked the wrong kunai, but the actual subject was confused, and he _knew_ that the kunai picked was the wrong one, yet, in order to avoid being at odds with the group, went ahead and picked it anyway.

Yamanaka Ino was an impressionable twelve year old girl with just a few months left to graduate and become a shinobi. This was true, but she was also the daughter of Konoha's foremost Psychologist, who was the Head of Konohagakure's Torture and Interrogation Department. She was the friend to a genius with an IQ of 200 that occasionally made rare quips and comments that belayed his extraordinary intelligence, despite his outwardly lazy persona. Then, she the heiress of a clan that could casually stroll through your mind like a schoolboy galloping a field of flowers and make your tongue unleash your deepest desires.

Even without using their Clan techniques.

As such, Yamanaka Ino knew exactly what to do. Slamming her hand on her desk, she twirled her hair, placed her hand on her hip and let out a huff, utterly turning away from Kiba's question.

Kiba's eyes narrowed, "So it's not that you don't want to take the credit! You just wanted us to make you think you didn't care! You were pretending all along weren't you?"

"Whatever makes you happy mutt-breath."

"Why you – "

Mizuki-sensei clapped.

"That's enough. Kiba, if you have any problem with Ino, take it out in Taijutsu practice. Assuming you _can_."

A collection of snickers went up at the room at the slight.

"It was one time Mizuki-sensei! I lost to her one time!"

Yamanaka Ino did not focus on any of this however, instead, her mind found itself begrudgingly drifting towards someone with blond hair and blue eyes. Why had Naruto suddenly asked her out if he was supposed to be infatuated with Sakura? Had he known what she was up to and then did it to save her face? Was that why she found herself questioning her infatuation with Sasuke now and then?

She had doubted Shikamaru's words before about Naruto being observant, adding up to another time the pineapple haired Nara had been right, and kami knew that if Shikamaru wasn't so lazy, half of their conversations would be filled with "I told you so". Still it just didn't seem to fit. If Naruto was so observant, why was he the dead-last? Did graduating and becoming as shinobi not matter to his interests?

She found herself biting on the edge of her pen and took in a deep breath. It seemed like she knew what she was going to do after school today, solving the enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto.

Assuming she could find him.

* * *

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Um… Naruto…"

There had been a lot of odd things that Akimichi Choji had seen in his life, from vanishing pieces of cake, to people who utterly ruined the concept of a good meal, to even things such as pineapple on pizza.

He shuddered.

Nevertheless, despite having seeing so many odd things in his brief few years alive, he would say that he had never felt more conflicted nor had he ever felt more uncertain on what to do, when he saw his blond classmate, Uzumaki Naruto, rummaging through the trash cans of the Akimichi Clan compound, more specifically, his trashcan.

"Gah – venison, steak, mutton – why are they so many different bones! I don't even know what this one is supposed to be, turkey or rabbit?"

Choji awkwardly stopped eating from his famous bag of chips, rubbing his arm in a particular manner that didn't aid in alleviating the awkwardness. It had now been four weeks since Naruto had shown up in class, and Ino had been reserved ever since there were some allegations that it was because she had broken his heart that Naruto had been skipping out on school. Choji thought that it was a lot of baloney, but Ino didn't feel that way, and no one knew what to make of the situation.

This past week however, the blond had been seen out of class, doing numerous odd things. For instance, he had been sniffed out by Kiba on one occasion, and after being called out, he admitted that he was planning on pranking the Inuzuka. Likewise the same thing occurred for Shino, and no one knew why he would even want to prank those two.

Now however, Choji did not know what to make of seeing Naruto doing… that. Of course, the Akimichi didn't particularly know just how lucky he was, to have been born into a major clan, to have had loving parents and to enjoy magnificent meals everyday – and though it was easy to forget, Naruto had no parents, had no one to cook for him, and pretty much lived on his own.

He never truly realized how privileged he was until he saw his own classmate seemingly scrounging for scraps.

"Um Naruto… you don't need to eat out of the trash can, we've got plenty of food –"

Naruto stopped scrounging, the light of the slowly setting evening sun casting a weird glow as he raised his head from the pile of dirt and his eyes regarded Choji with a confused expression.

"Ehh?"

"I said you don't need to eat out of the trash can."

"What – this? I'm not – oi! I'm not _that_ pathetic that I'd scrounge around dumpsters for food!"

Choji stared at him, a cool breeze passing by that somehow seemed to cement his words. True, Naruto did seem to be the type that was too proud to actually be seen doing something like that.

"Then… what are you doing?"

"Er… that thing you do where you take old stuff and make new things with it – what is it called again?"

"You're… recycling?"

He snapped his fingers in confirmation, grinning. "Yeah that's it – recycling!"

"Naruto… you're only meant to recycle papers, plastics and metals… not junk food items…"

The blond blinked owlishly. "Says who?"

Choji shrugged, watching as Naruto seemingly pondered about it for all of three seconds, before hefting over a large bag over his shoulder and dropped it on the ground, wiping the sweat off his brow.

Now that the young Akimichi heir thought about it, he realized that Naruto shouldn't even _be_ in their clan compound – much less searching through their trash. How had he passed the guards and the gate?

"Hehehe… this haul was awesome! With this… I'm going to become the greatest shinobi that ever lived dattebayo!"

Choji stared at him with no small amount of confusion.

"With… trash?"

Naruto grinned. "With treasure."

Choji was looking at him owlishly. "I don't understand…"

"Your favorite chip brand is the Tachino Chips. You never buy the really saltier versions and stick to the bags instead of the cans because you hate it when you can't get your hands down in it to get the last ones."

Choji blinked.

"Tachino Chips are kinda rare though, _really_ rare, and freaking expensive too! And you breeze through about six a day, _every_ day! That's not even counting all the _feasts_ you call dinner! Choji – you're loaded!"

Choji choked on his potato chip.

"And not just you, your entire Clan is loaded too! I mean I didn't even know that the Akimichi Clan totally owned like half of the farmlands that make all the food that everyone in Konoha eats! But you guys are so cool and mellow that no one realizes that you're the richest clan in – mmph!"

Choji had heard enough as he proceeded to cover Naruto's mouth, eyes darting left and right as he let out a sigh. Good hearted boy and avid foodie he was, but he was also being groomed to be the future head of said Akimichi Clan, and there were somethings that needed to be left under wraps.

Yes, the Akimichi Clan was rich, stinky damn rich, probably richer than the Hyuga and the Inuzuka Clans combined. Of course, the reason why their wealth hadn't drawn undue attention was because they were also the most underestimated Clan in Konoha. They were the big friendly giants who simply loved their meals and would leave you alone in peace as long as you did not mention anything about their weight, as such, no one would ever find anything wrong with these people having extraordinary wealth.

Of course, the Akimichi found no problem with it – being underestimated suit them just fine.

"Naruto, how did you know all that?"

"Just think about it Choji!" he had a glint in his eye "Garbage tells all! The stuff you throw in the trash can tells waaay more about you than you can believe!"

The blond began counting on his fingers "Iruka-sensei's hobby is woodworking, his favorite drink is cherry juice, and he eats tons of fruits and cooks all his meals himself. Sakura-chan uses three different conditioners at the same time, and she's on a diet for now. Sasuke-teme seems to like tomatoes a lot, and he's a terrible cook –"

Choji brought him to a stop. It was impressive, unorthodox and greatly breaching the privacy of several people, but impressive nonetheless.

"Naruto… just how many people's garbage have you scrounged through?"

The blond paused for a second, before shrugging. "Counting you… Everyone."

Choji almost choked on his chips again. " _Everyone_ in Konoha?"

"Huh? No, I meant everyone I know." He gave a proud grin "Why d'ya think I haven't been at the Academy for a while?"

Choji calmed down significantly at that. So Naruto had been doing recon on every individual he knew? "That's… incredible?"

"You're telling me! I had to Henge into a one-legged cat to fool the Hyuga clan guards, and cover myself in puppy piss just to fool the Inuzuka dogs… and don't even get me started on the Aburame and their insects."

Akimichi Choji stood, slightly confused, slightly impressed, and a little bit annoyed at the fact that Naruto had somehow chosen him for last, until he reminded himself that technically what Naruto was doing was a huge breach of privacy, though he seemed not to realize it, or care.

Choji contemplated if he should tell Naruto that it was somewhat… well, not exactly _illegal_ , just a teensy bit immoral for him to go through other people's trash.

Then again, it was _garbage_ , people rarely gave much thought to their garbage, and they probably did not realize that what you threw away could tell _a lot_ about who you were, what you did, what you liked and what you ate. Somehow, Naruto had figured that out.

"But… why?"

"Huh?'

"Why are you going through everyone's garbage?"

At that Naruto grinned. "It's for my Bingo Book!"

"Y-your _what?_ "

"You see, Hokage-jiji gave me this supercool scroll that he used to teach his students and stuff, and when I looked through it, I saw that his students left all kinds of doodles and drawings and jottings all over it!"

Naruto heaved the heavy bag of garbage on his shoulder.

"So one of Hokage-jiji's students, this guy called Maru, jotted down that he had always wanted to gain complete information about all his nakama in Konoha! Said he'd started working on it, and had his own Bingo Book and stuff, but never completed it."

Naruto rubbed his chin. "Was a bit weird though, there were stuff about blood type and searching for bloodlines, and stuff, but I thought the general idea would be awesome! I mean, if I'm gonna become the Hokage, the leader of everyone, I've gotta at least _know_ them right?"

At this he frowned.

"But people don't really talk to me for some weird reason. Stupid temes must just be jealous of my awesomeness dattebayo!" He said with a grin, "So I recycled their trash, and used the stuff I learned to fill up the book."

Choji wanted to tell him that some people were averse to talking to him because of his general... orange-ness, but he didn't have the heart to do so.

"Plus, I'm working on being Konoha's Greatest Trap Specialist! I'm going to use my pranking skills to become the greatest shinobi in the world! Believe it! So… I kinda need some of the trash to help build up my uh… arsenal?"

Brilliant.

It was a word which had a nimiety of meanings, each one more elevated than the last. Placing those who were referred as that word was to place them on a magnificent glass pedestal, and Akimichi Choji had not assumed that he would be running into another individual that could leave him as awed as his best friend Shikamaru. He found it even odder considering that he was using attributing this word to _Naruto_ of all people, and though the boy did not realize it, what he had done, what he was doing was sheer brilliance.

He was considered the dead-last, but most likely he was the one taking their future occupation as shinobi the most seriously.

"Gah! I've got to run! Higurashi Weapon stores usually toss out some old rusty kunai and metal I can use around this time! See you around Choji!"

Choji blinked, drawn from his reverie as he realized that he had just found the elusive boy that his friend had been trying to track down for the past week with no chance of success.

"Wait! Naruto, Ino's been looking… for… you…"

The boy was gone, leaving Choji standing in place and conspicuously staring at the garbage pile. A mere pile of garbage that had made Naruto of all people easily realize the not-so-hidden secret of the Akimichi Clan.

"From now on, no more leftovers."

The sound of crackling potato chips and hearty receding footsteps echoed off into Konoha's twilight.

* * *

~~~~~~~WI~~~~~~

What was the difference between intelligence and wisdom?

This was the question Yamanaka Inoichi asked himself as he plopped down on his couch, a tired sigh on his lips and a long worn furrow on his brow, just now finally concluded from a long day at the office.

Some would say that intelligence was possessing knowledge, an intelligent person had the savoir-faire of numerous different fields or areas, such as someone who had memorized entire aspects of a thesaurus, or someone who could calculate complex mathematical figures on the fly. Then, they would say that wisdom was possessing the ability to use said knowledge in the adequate scenarios to achieve the optimum result.

Except, that was not true.

That was the relationship between intelligence and wisdom and not the _distinction_.

Intelligence and wisdom were somewhat separate, as one could be wise, in the manner of an enlightened monk or spiritual individual, but they would not be smart, such as monks that could neither read nor write. Likewise, one could be smart, possessing a great deal of knowledge about numerous aspects and fields, but not necessarily wise. For instance, a scientist who chose to give his children extremely efficient meals and prevented them from eating sweets because he knew the health detriments, but was unable to realize that his children would never understand his perspective.

Unfortunately, it seemed that people regarded intelligence on the higher spectrum than wisdom. Konoha was gradually running out of wise young shinobi and instead, they were breeding geniuses. If only his beloved village could have a Sarutobi Hiruzen for every Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi, it would be so much better off.

Unfortunately, most levels of wisdom came with experience, and as such, those greatly in need of it sorely lacked the access to it.

Shameful as it was, Inoichi knew full well that his village was filled with people lacking both intelligence and wisdom. Most obviously would be the civilians first, who would willingly let their children sign up to the Academy, fooled by the romanticized ideal of the Konoha Shinobi Corps. They were nothing but glorified child soldiers, child soldiers capable of taking on full grown men twice their size, but child soldiers no less. Most of them would not live to hit thirty, and those who did would be so scarred by the things that they had witnessed and performed, that they could never live normally ever again.

But the Will of Fire burned strong, how strong it burned indeed.

Fire was the one thing most capable of bringing unlimited destruction to leaves, yet not a soul had noted the irony.

Konoha's Head of T&I shook his head as he let out a deep sigh. The question and deliberations had not struck him on some utterly odd whim, and he was not usually someone to start thinking about such topics, but perhaps the reason the question had struck him had been because he had been watching his daughter recently. Ino was his pride and joy, and of course, he had done his best to lavish his little princess the way any father would, but he made sure he never cossetted her too much, especially if she wanted to be a kunoichi.

He was initially adamant against her decision to even _enroll_ , but he had no choice. Had his daughter said she wanted to become a horticulturist or a botanist or a psychologist rather than a kunoichi, not a single soul in the world, dead or alive, legend or nightmare, would have been capable of forcing him to tell her otherwise.

But of course, his daughter wanted to be a Kunoichi. He had no choice left but to respect her decision, or lose her love and respect forever.

Despite training to be a powerful, lethal weapon, she was still a young girl though, and as such, he had been more than happy when she showed the signs of her youth, such as an adolescent crush. His only wish was that Ino would have at least picked a crush that was not so mentally scarred, but in the end, he had left her to her own devices.

Until now.

He had begun noticing in the past four weeks how much his little princess was changing. There had been a little bit more interest in the way she listened to his tales at the office, and as he explained to her bits and pieces of the psychology that people took for granted. Then of course, the frequency at which she mentioned the Uchiha's name had hit a sudden decline. Whereas he could have previously counted a minimum of sixteen counts per day, it had dropped to a mere five, and each time the topic was brought up, she bit her lips, her eyes furrowed, and her nose rose, just a smidgen.

Something or someone had made her re-evaluate her infatuation, and she was inwardly conflicted.

He would usually leave the issues of boys to her mother to handle, not because he was inept, but rather because he felt there would be more of a bond between his wife and his daughter discussing over such sensitive feminine issues.

Of course, when she began leaving the house and returning each day, looking more tired and frustrated than the previous, he decided to intervene.

"Ino-chan, is there anything bothering you that you want to tell me?"

She had pursed her lips.

"Well…"

Her hesitation alone was not a good sign.

"I did something… I mean, I think I did something, to someone, that might've been kind of bad, and I've been trying to find them to apologize, or explain… or something… but…"

Inoichi eased her. "Calm down Ino-chan, go gently, from the start."

She frowned. "What do you do when someone just changes? Does things they've never done before? Or if their actions don't match what you know about them?"

Inoichi rose an eyebrow. "Is this about a boy?"

Ino sighed. "Yes daddy."

"Ino, I've never really supported your crush on Uchiha Sasuke, but if he's the reason for why you've been so emotionally frustrated –"

"It's not about Sasuke!"

Those words threw Inoichi for a loop, his mind recoiling as it tried to wrap itself around that information. First, there had been no affectionate suffix added to the name and second his daughter had _another_ crush that wasn't the mentally perturbed survivor of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

"It's not? Then who?"

"…It's Naruto that suddenly –"

Inoichi's mind slammed the brakes hard at that point. Naruto? As in, Uzumaki Naruto? The resident prankster of Konoha? The secret orphaned son of the Yondaime Hokage? The current container for Kyubi no Yoko, the strongest of all tailed beasts that had ravaged Konoha twelve years ago?

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

Why? Why couldn't this be easy? Why couldn't his daughter just be interested in some no-named average boy? He would have taken a boy with greased hair that wore twenty types of leather and a 'I-heart-mom' tattoo plastered on his left shoulder, over _him_.

He had no personal bias against the boy, but he did have a personal interest to keep his daughter safe no matter what, and unfortunate as it was, merely being a Jinchuriki put him on the list of people to get Ino as far away from as possible. He did not fear the boy going out of control, for he trusted the Yondaime's sealing ability, but the sheer power he wielded would put him in the crosshairs of powerful and dangerous individuals.

Individuals that he did not want a thousand feet near his daughter.

He needed to diffuse this situation _very_ carefully.

"Ino-chan, you said Naruto suddenly did what now?"

"He asked me out."

"He – _what?_ "

"I know! That was my reaction too! He's spent half of the time in the Academy pestering Sakura for dates, and she turns him down, and then all of a sudden, he just asks me? Why? Why all of a sudden and then the way he did it –"

She abruptly stopped, and Inoichi's eyes narrowed. There was information that his daughter was intentionally keeping out of the discussion.

"Anyway, Shika says that it's because Naruto is actually really observant when he's dealing with things that catch his interest."

"He did?"

Inoichi knew that Nara Shikamaru was just as astute as his father, perhaps even more so, but he was lacking in the much needed wisdom that would probably make him surpass Shikaku.

"He did, but it doesn't make sense! If he's so observant about stuff, why do his grades suck so much and why is he the dead last?"

Inoichi swore under his breath.

"Champing breadsticks."

If, and _if_ , what Ino was telling him was true, then there were two possible unfortunate implications, neither of which was comforting, and both of which constituted as threats or serious issues to Konoha's safety.

The first implication was that Uzumaki Naruto was intentionally downplaying all his skills and abilities, for whatever possible reason, and depending on how observant he truly was, it was more than likely that he knew who his father was, and what was sealed inside of his stomach, yet opted to keep it to himself.

When children found themselves out of their depth or seeking knowledge or wisdom, they looked to adult authorities for guidance and explanation. If Uzumaki Naruto was aware of his true heritage, and of the reasons of the numerous bias against him, and the fact that a _giant beast_ was sealed inside his gut yet had intellectually chosen not to mention it or blurt it out, and continued as though absolutely _nothing_ was wrong, then there was a problem.

From a psychological standpoint it was downright terrifying and it marked him as a greater flight risk than Uchiha Sasuke ever could be.

The second implication of course, was somewhat lighter, and it meant that there were serious levels of bias against the boy, and he was more than likely being either taught wrongly, or intentionally failed in order to ensure that he did not graduate. It meant that there were shinobi amongst the ranks who had let personal bias interfere with objective judgment, and they needed to be sanctioned and undergo screening to see if they were truly worthy of being in the shinobi corps.

After all, if you let your emotions bleed into your job when all you did was to teach, who was to say that on a mission, you would not choose to let your emotions take sway and then instead of assassinating a target, you let them escape?

Of course, if Uzumaki Naruto was being taught wrongly would he not have complained? Or was it that he was unaware of the fact? But if he was unaware of the fact, that brought his supposed perceptive prowess into question.

"Daddy, you're making that constipated face again."

Goddamn it Shikaku!

He sighed. Having that man as a best friend for the greater half of his life had made him paranoid and caused him to analyze things more than was sometimes needed.

For all he knew, Shikaku's son was wrong, and Uzumaki Naruto was not some overly perceptive genius mastermind intentionally hiding his skills in order to be severely underestimated by the Konohan populace whilst he plotted revenge for being ostracized, orphaned and denied his legacy.

"All right Ino-chan, if you want answers, find Naruto and invite him over to dinner."

"I can't! I've been searching everywhere for him for the past four weeks and I still can't find him!"

Oh dear.

"He skips out on the Academy?"

"Daddy, it'd be easier to count the number of days he's been in class than the number he's been outside of it."

Oh no.

"And no one knows where he goes? No one questions what he's been doing with all that extra-time he spends outside of class?"

Inoichi took a deep breath.

It seemed he would be scheduling a meeting with the Hokage soon.

* * *

~~~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~

Tenten was a simple girl.

She liked weapons, sharp objects, pointy blades, and everything in-between. She enjoyed training, swordsmanship, archery, and improving her aim and control over either blunt or pointy objects which could be utilized in battle.

Despite having only under a year's worth of experience as a Genin, and serving underneath what could only be described as a circus act of insane teammates, she had done well for herself, and liked to believe, at the very least, that she was sane.

Though her hair was frazzled and she had bangs over her eyes, and her body was tremendously sore from having her butt kicked all over the place by the taijutsu freaks in her team, and then having to handle several D-rank Missions afterwards, and of course, performing team "training" exercises of racing around the village with one hand tied behind her back – she believed that the stress wasn't getting to her, and she still lived a simple lifestyle.

Of course, getting back home and meeting her foster father still at work in the forge, crafting shinobi weapons had been one of the few relaxing things she had enjoyed.

Right up until she had to join him – and though she did enjoy crafting different kinds of weapons and materials, she was far too tired to continue the activity for the mean time.

Eventually, all her works had been crafted so poorly that she had no choice but to throw the metal away into the large trash bins provided for the residents of the area, seeing as how they were not even salvageable enough to be re-forged into something decent.

This however, was where Tenten felt she might snap.

No sooner had she tossed away the materials, did she hear the rustling of a figure moving within the night and shadows.

She had first thought it was her tired mind playing tricks on her, right up until she saw, with full certainty, that there was a creep actually rummaging through the trash cans, and she felt her irritation rise.

"Of all the nights –"

She reached for her holster, drawing three shuriken. She of course had no intention of seriously hurting the fellow, she only meant to scare him off, a form of intimidation to make the person think twice about doing something as unethical as rummaging through another person's trash.

With a flick of her hand, she sent the three shuriken flying, enjoying the sound they made as the whistled through the air.

Only for her to blink, several seconds later, as she did not hear the sound of them hitting their target. As a matter of fact, she heard no sound at all, as though the Shuriken had simply vanished in mid-air.

"I missed? No – that's not possible."

She grabbed out two more shuriken and threw, listening as they whistled in the air –

And then they vanished, never hitting their mark.

Tenten's irritation turned into a nagging doubt, and she moved from her position towards the trash can, fully intent on finding the reason for the odd mishap –

Only to find a blond haired boy, muddied and covered in dirt, grinning as he twirled five shuriken on his left hand, one for every finger, before he dumped them into a large cloth sack.

Then, he began ransacking her trash once more, as though he didn't even realize that she was there.

Tenten felt her eyebrows twitch.

"Did you just… steal my shuriken?"

He raised his face up towards her, his eyes blinking owlishly in a perplexed manner.

"Huh? What're you talking about? Someone threw away five awesome shuriken – so I'm taking it."

Tenten realized, solemnly, that she might be dealing with an idiot. Given the activities of the day, her exhaustion, and her very slowly teetering resistance to idiocy, she found herself slowly reaching her boiling point.

"They weren't thrown away, they were thrown at you!"

He blinked, his face scowling in annoyance "Why would you do that?"

Tenten resisted the urge to pull out her hair. "Why would I do it?" she pointed at him "Why are you rummaging through my trash in the middle of the night?"

"I'm recycling." He said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You don't get to recycle other people's trash!"

"Says who?"

"Says common sense!"

He scrunched his nose up in confusion and shrugged. "Never heard of him."

Tenten palmed her face, slowly before she took in a deep breath.

"Well I'm certain he'll pay you a visit…" she withdrew her summoning scroll, as several shuriken emerged between her fingers "…when you're staring up at the white ceilings in the hospital!"

Perhaps, in hindsight, no matter the severity of the offense, it was not a wise thing to attack a poor boy scrounging through garbage. Of course Tenten wasn't going to actually harm him, she just wanted him suitably scared, or at least frightened off for him to scurry off into the night and leave her alone to her aching sores as she got the minimum amount of sleep before Gai-sensei appeared at her window by the crack of dawn.

What she was not expecting however, was for the boy to be caught so off guard by the attack, he slipped, and ended up getting himself directly in the trajectory of one of the shuriken that would have flown safely overhead.

Tenten could feel her heartbeat race as she watched the Shuriken race towards the boy's eyeball and she could already see her kunoichi career come to an unfortunate end, as one mistake would lead to her killing some poor hapless kid.

Then, the boy leaned forward and twisted his head.

Tenten was not a completely religious person, but even she would question if Kami had been the one to interfere on her behalf as she watched the mysterious young boy _head-butt_ a thrown shuriken with his goggles, somehow hitting it at an angle that was flat with the exact amount of force at the exact needed time.

Then she watched as the ninja star ricocheted off his head and struck another one that was mid-flight, which was then sent barreling straight towards her, streaking past her cheek and leaving a cut as it whizzed by.

Her jaw detached.

"G-gah! I'm so sorry!"

He dashed over to her instantly, and it was only then that she realized that there was a wet feeling on her cheek, her hand gently traced over it, and she stared at the redness that stained her fingers.

"Gomen! I didn't mean – I –"

She grabbed his hands, and the boy let out a shudder, expecting a stern reprimand.

What he got instead was her staring at him with stars in her eyes.

"How did you do that?"

Her bleeding cheek was a mere scratch, and she had definitely endured worse at some of Rock Lee's kicks, so there was no need to get worried about it, what did draw her attention was the feat that she had just seen.

"Eh? Do what?"

" _That_. This. How did you head-butt a thrown shuriken in mid-air and redirect it enough to bounce off another one?"

That – that sort of innate Shurikenjutsu skill was outright insane! It took key focus and concentration to pull something like that off, and even after a year of practice, Tenten could only so much as bounce one Shuriken off another enough to go in a small weak curve, whereas her goal was to learn out to endlessly ricochet them back to back, to the point she would be able to make them go in a perfect circle if need be.

"I – uh… It's a secret! A great secret from the one and only Uzumaki Naruto! Besides," he pointed his finger accusingly at her "You threw shuriken at me! Real ones! You were trying to kill me!"

She grimaced. "They were supposed to be warning shots, but that was wrong of me to actually throw real shuriken at you without knowing if you were a civilian or not… you could have gotten seriously hurt."

She bowed her head. Gai-sensei's teachings echoing her that no matter who you were dealing with, an elder or a younger one, you had to be able to accept when you were in the wrong and own up to your own mistakes.

"I'm sorry."

The boy seemed genuinely stunned, then, he let out a long grin as he coughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, shucks don't worry about it. You were probably just tired from all your training. I get cranky too when I haven't really slept…"

He coughed again.

"Uh, so I guess we kinda got off on the wrong foot? I'm Uzumaki Naruto – future greatest Hokage of Konoha."

His hand extended.

Tenten almost wanted to laugh at the words, but then the regarded the tone in which he said it. It wasn't just some open, empty statement, no, it possessed the same level of conviction that Lee had whenever he said he would beat Neji, or the same level of belief that Neji had when he said that Lee's fate was determined. It was the same factual manner that Gai-sensei said he was the greatest taijutsu specialist in Konoha, and the same manner in which she had said she would become a strong kunoichi.

She smirked. "Tenten – future greatest Weapons Mistress of Konoha."

They shook, and he once more flashed another grin.

"You know, you're the first real Genin I've met and you're pretty cool. If all Genin are like this I can't wait to get my headband too."

She blinked.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

"You're an Academy Student?"

"Uh… yeah? What did you think I was?"

"An extraordinarily gifted street rat looking for stuff to pawn in other people's garbage."

"Oi –"

"It helps that you're wearing that horrible orange jumpsuit. What kind of aspiring ninja wears orange?"

"OI! Don't mock the orange!"

"And what is what that posture? Is that a taijutsu stance or is the ground recoiling from your sexual advances?"

"OI!"

Tenten sighed. "Alright, looks like we're going to have a lot to work on."

"W-work on what now?"

Tenten cracked her knuckles.

"You probably don't know how you pulled off that trick with the shuriken, but I know it's not luck. I'm going to figure it out how you did it and repeat it if it's the last thing I do."

Naruto blinked.

"…what?"


	4. Inquisition III

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Question: Can a man be smart even though he is stupid? Answer: That is the only time a man can be smart.**

* * *

It was early, ridiculously so, as the sun was just peeking through the horizon, and the atmosphere was still chilly and filled with morning dew. Despite this, the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen was in his office quite earlier than most. This was because he had a meeting scheduled earlier than normal, but he would not deny that upon hearing that Yamanaka Inoichi had requested a meeting, he was expecting a more serious topic than that of Naruto.

Still, he would give Inoichi the benefit of the doubt, considering the extenuating circumstances, it was not entirely the first time a Clan Head had approached him about the blond.

"What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen would have found this question odd, and then laughed at anyone who actually had the impetus to ask him such a question. Except, when it came from one of his most trusted shinobi, and the appointed leader of his T&I Department, then it became another issue entirely.

He responded what he knew about the boy, his parents, his background, and of course, the secret that was sealed into him.

"What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto _personally_?"

With that question came some guilt, as he had not invested much time into the boy's life and affairs, but what he did know, was that the boy had a fondness for Ramen, a penchant for pranks, was often loud and boisterous and wished to become the Hokage of Konoha.

"What else?"

What else? Well…

That is…

The Sandaime Hokage of Konoha found his lips furrowing into a sad thin line. That was, as a matter of fact, all he did know about the boy.

"Hokage-sama, what if I told you that those qualities you mentioned are what _everybody_ knows about him, and nothing else?"

Hiruzen's nose rumpled. "What?"

"Yesterday, Hokage-sama, I met with his Chunin Academy Instructors, and before that, I met with a select few of his classmates, and likewise still before that, I met the owners of the Teuchi Ramen Stand. All of them, every last one, when I asked them to tell me what they knew about Uzumaki Naruto, they recounted these exact same three things."

Yamanaka Inoichi raised three fingers.

"He loves Ramen."

One finger down.

"He likes pranking."

Another finger down.

"He wants to become the Hokage."

The Sandaime Hokage placed his hands on his desk as he gave Inoichi a stern but contemplating look. Had this been anyone else other than Yamanaka Inoichi, he would have stopped listening and waved off their concerns on accounts of blatant paranoia and some hidden bias against Naruto. However, Yamanaka Inoichi had known Namikaze Minato, and the two blondes had been friends and comrades, to the point in which they had sometimes worked on the same team. Even more, Inoichi had also known Uzumaki Kushina, and the man was definitely not someone who would ever have any form of bias against her son, somewhat considering the fact that just as Uchiha Mikoto had supposedly possessed some childish infatuation with Minato during their Academy days, so had Inoichi possessed the same with Kushina.

Not that the Hokage listened to or cared about such things, as it was merely the freedom of youth.

"I do not see where the problem lies Inoichi."

"The problem Hokage-sama, is that we are human beings not one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. It is impossible for one person to only have three, and just three features about him that makes him memorable, to only have three aspects to his personality and character."

Inoichi shook his head. "To put this into perspective Hokage-sama, what does Uzumaki Naruto do when he is neither pranking people, nor eating ramen, nor declaring his desire to steal your hat? Where does he go? How does he spend his time outside of classes when neither pranking nor eating? What does he do after a long and exhausting day?"

The answers to those three questions were all equally unknown, and it dawned on the Sandaime just how little he truly knew about the young boy named Naruto, who looked up to him with stars in his eyes as though he was Kami's best gift, yet, Sandaime knew that he had failed Naruto more than he had helped him.

He let out a tired sigh. His age was rapidly catching up to him, and he knew and believed that he had tried to do his best for not only the village, but also for the son of his successor. Everyone Minato knew that was capable of taking care of Naruto was not available. Hatake Kakashi was a mess, psychologically speaking after the loss of his teammates, he retreated into ANBU and took only the toughest of missions of the S-Rank caliber, and it was clear that he possessed some sort of death wish. He clearly could not leave the upbringing of a child to him. Jiraiya was far too busy maintaining Konoha's spy networks, or at least, so he claimed, as his job did include him travelling from place to place drinking in bars and taverns and peeping on women in hot springs. Of course even if he was not basically a wanderer, the Sandaime could not in good conscious leave Jiraiya all alone to raise a child.

Tsunade would have been perfect, but she was now an alcoholic and gambling addict lost to her own grief, and he would not want her raising an impressionable young child either.

Uchiha Mikoto had once offered, but the Clan politics were against such a thing, as the Uchiha Clan had just been accused of the one's masterminding the Kyubi's attack in the first place, it would be tremendously bad if one of their own had then decided to adopt the boy.

The Hyuga were out of the question, and part of his village they might be, but Hiruzen had never appreciated or favored a clan that could and would so callously brand their own family members as slaves in the name of preserving and protecting a bloodline. Such a place was not where he wanted Naruto to grow up, believing that such practices were the norm.

The Aburame once again offered, but it was likewise impossible as at the time, the Kyubi's chakra and presence made their Kikaichu bugs scared and wary, and of course, there was the issue of Naruto eventually growing up to feel like an outsider, as he vastly contrasted the majority of the Aburame.

The ideal clans would have either been the Nara, the Yamanaka, the Akimichi or the Inuzuka. However, there was once again the question of allowing a single clan that much 'power.' It was not viewed as a Clan attempting to train and foster the son of their hero, rather, as a Clan potentially raising and shifting the loyalty of a Jinchuriki away from the village and into their own hands.

And so, Naruto had grown up unloved and uncared.

"Hokage-sama?"

The aged man was drawn from his musing, and he shook his head, letting out a long sigh.

"I believe we should let sleeping dogs lie Inoichi."

"W-what?"

"If you are worried about Naruto-kun's loyalty, I can personally assure you that Naruto is loyal to Konoha without measure. I can see it in his eyes, in his movements. He would be the last person in the world to betray Konoha."

"But Hokage-sama –"

"This is my final decision Inoichi. For kami's sakes, let the boy be. Once he graduates from the Academy, _then_ you can conduct whatever tests you wish during his psych evaluations."

Yamanaka Inoichi let out a deep sigh, and Hiruzen watched as the man gave a salute.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Now is there anything else you wanted to speak to me about?"

"Nothing of any real value, Hokage-sama. Except to perhaps look into the Academy Instructors to find if indeed there are Chunin intentionally sabotaging student scripts."

Hiruzen slowly rubbed his beard. He knew that there was always that possibility, for Chunin instructors to be visibly biased against Naruto, but he had hoped that it would be of a miniscule level of simply asking him more questions in class rather than giving him unfair grades. He could not go out and start rooting every Chunin that was biased against a single student, otherwise that would make it appear as though he was the one being biased against them.

"Alright. I'll have an ANBU team look into it. Anything else?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed."

The leader of the only naturally blond-haired clan in the entirety of Konoha nodded, and utilized the Shunshin technique to leave Hiruzen's office, making the aged Hokage sigh once more as he leaned into his desk. It had only been a month since he had seen Naruto last and given him that scroll, and he had not seen or heard from the boy at all on any other occasion. He knew he was busy, and he knew that he also had to think of the lives of the other villagers and of his shinobi, but Naruto was simply that breath of fresh air that was perhaps often needed.

Of course, there was also the small, disconcerting part of him that realized that what Inoichi said was somewhat true, as he knew very little about what Naruto did or where he went to in his free time.

He was about to call the ANBU, but he stopped halfway before he did so, and let a small contemplative smile come on his lips instead. Rather than summon Naruto into his office, it was best to make it into a surprise.

He swung on his coat and hat, placed his pipe into his mouth, and then prepared himself to move forward and once more allow The Professor to grace the streets of Konoha.

Perhaps had he not been so pre-occupied, he would have noticed the tiny curved insect that had been perched at his window all the while. He would have seen as the bug's eyes zoomed in and out on his form, before eventually taking off into the sky, flying low through the air and free from the threat of birds before eventually landing on the hand of a certain individual.

"What does it say?"

"Yamanaka Inoichi believes the Kyubi Jinchuriki could constitute a flight risk due to how little is truly known about him."

"Danzo-sama must hear about this."

The two figures gave each other a nod, before vanishing once more, unseen and unheard, as phantoms in dawn.

* * *

~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~~

Tenten had always wanted a cute little kouhai.

There was the appeal to picking up a junior that she could buy sweets, pet, pamper and have him/her help her sharpen her weapons with a big loving smile. Perhaps it came with the fact that she had been the 'nee-chan' of the orphanage she had grown up in, not in the motherly, caregiver sense, but in the tomboyish, 'you mess with me, you enjoy the taste of sand' manner. Her somewhat crass manner and a slight tendency for violence had probably what had inspired her obsession with blades and weapons of all sorts, and it of course helped that she thought playing with dolls was the most ridiculous thing in the freaking world.

She still remembered the first doll she had been given, considering the fact that she had given it an extensive surgical process by retrofitting the hands with sewing needles and the legs with scissors. Of course, the other girls had not appreciated the beauty of Princess Scissorhands, abbreviated to, Si-hime, the scissor-handed, needle-legged princess doll. Then, she had not understood why the Orphanage's matron had been so appalled, Si-hime was far more useful that way to help in cutting and sewing together what little clothes they had possessed as of then.

Regardless, the weapons enthusiast wanted someone who was also equally passionate and shared a love of the sharp and pointy. Of course, this was somewhat of an idealistic wish that she would sigh and ponder, than something that she ever saw coming into fruition. Right up until the moment that she had found Uzumaki Naruto and taken him under her wing.

Except, well, Uzumaki Naruto was not the cute little kouhai she wanted, but quite possibly the one she needed.

"COME BACK HERE YOU!"

Assuming she did not kill him first.

"I'M SORRY!"

"HELLO SORRY, I'M TENTEN – GET READY TO EAT POINTY METAL!"

As it had turned out, she really wanted to find out if she had been a little bit too enthusiastic in seeing his display, and then she wondered if it was mere, simple, dumb luck that had saved her career as a kunoichi from coming to a terrible end. So of course, she had needed to confirm that hypothesis by re-creating the scenario and seeing if indeed, Uzumaki Naruto could curve and redirect shuriken with a headbutt.

Of course, this time around she had tossed rubber shuriken at him, because attempting to use the real ones could most possibly end in disaster.

The results had been outstanding. Seven out of ten times, Uzumaki Naruto had successfully pulled of a ricocheting magic tricks with the shuriken that were thrown at him, and seven out of ten was a very promising result.

So then, it came her own turn to practice and see how to pull of the same tricks, and she had asked him to stand and toss the rubber shuriken and kunai at her.

She had closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and then steeled her gaze as he said he was going to launch, only to open her eyes and see a rubber chicken flying through the air.

She was not kidding.

A. Rubber. Chicken.

With its beak out in front, and it's wings spread to the sides like an eagle.

She had been so stunned at the sight of the flying avian toy, she could not react when it had smacked beak first into her eye and sent her tumbling to the ground.

Chicken – 1, Tenten – 0.

Of course, Naruto's cacophonous laughter had merely added insult to the injury, which led to her current situation of her chasing the blond around the field while her unloading the full wrath of her weaponry.

Was it overkill?

Maybe. But you try explaining to Maito Gai, Rock Lee and Hyuga Neji that the reason you now had a large black eye was because an academy student clocked you in the face with a rubber chicken.

She grinned as she caught a hold of the fleeing blonde's legs with her kusarigama, the chain tying neatly across his left ankle, as she jerked the chain back and proceeded to quite literally reel him in as though she was a fisherwoman on a croaky old boat in the middle of a vast lake.

"Well, look what we've got! The catch of the day, the famous orange flopper."

She grinned as she watched him futilely scrape his nails against the grass in an attempt to escape. Eventually he just stopped bothering and let himself be dragged, until he came to stop directly beside her foot, and she gave him her 'kindest' grin.

"Uh… you know, I kind of feel really bad for fishes right now."

She rose an eyebrow. " _Just_ for fishes?"

"Ah, no no no! I mean, yes, I mean – well, you know what I mean, but I kinda also don't know what I mean –"

"If you were any more eloquent I'd need a dictionary."

He gave a sheepish grin. "Uh… that black eye goes really well with your hair-ttebayo?"

"I'm not taking fashion complements from someone who thinks wearing a blinding orange jumpsuit in the forest is a good idea for a shinobi."

She sighed as she shook her head, paying little heed to his chant about how orange was the best.

The sun had barely peaked over the horizon, due to both of them arriving bright and early for the training. Dressed in her training clothes that was more or less a refitted martial arts gi, rather than her normal attire, she really shuddered when Naruto showed up, fully clad in his orange glory.

That jumpsuit had got to go, staring at it was making her already aching eye ache even more. Speaking of which, how in the world did a rubber chicken have enough force to give her a black eye? For Kami's sakes, the only thing that was capable of doing that was one of Rock Lee's punches or kicks, but of course, Lee was a 'gentleman' at heart, and his attacks never aimed for her face.

"Wait, why in the world do you even _have_ a rubber chicken in the first place?"

Naruto had stopped listing off the vague uses and benefits of the color orange to stop and gave her a stare.

"Oh yeah! That! I wanna become a Trap Master dattebayo!"

She blinked. "What?"

Was this providence? Was the fate-douche on to something when he kept insisting that there was a divine will in place for each and every being?

She shook her head, heavens forbid Neji was right.

"You want to become a trap master meaning you want to become a shinobi that uses traps to fight?"

He gave an enthusiastic series of nods.

"I don't see that working out well for you at all."

"Huh? What d'ya mean?"

She pinched his cheek, dragging it, only to blink as she realized that the whisker marks felt like grooves in his skin, and as he gave an incoherent grumble.

"What I'm saying chicken-man is that you look more like someone fit for flashy ninjutsu or taijutsu."

She grinned. "Though mostly ninjutsu, because you need to grow about a dozen couple of more inches to make sure your opponents don't lose sight of you in a taijutsu brawl, chibi."

"Oi! I'm not short!"

"And the Hokage is a young bachelor with women vying for his attention."

Naruto frowned, he opened his mouth for a second as if to say something, but then changed his mind and closed it as he grinned. "I don't think jiji would find that funny."

She shrugged. "His inability to see the comedic value doesn't mean it's true."

Naruto gave another wide grin. "Well it was true… once upon a time. It's not like Hokage-jiji was born old."

Tenten sighed. "You're missing the point. Being an Ensnarement Specialist is something that takes time, dedication and planning. If you want to plant a trap for your enemy, you are working on the assumption that you _know_ where your enemy is, how he will react, and a plethora of different uncertain variables that will contribute to the success of your traps. And that is almost _never_ the case in a battle."

"Ensnarement Specialist? Awesome! I didn't know there was already a title for it dattebayo!"

Her left eye twitched slightly. "There isn't… I just made that up on the spot, and I think you're still missing the point –"

"Huh? No, no I get it!"

She gave him a flat look. "Really now?"

He placed a finger on his chin. "Say, I'm on a super-secret mission to guard the greatest bowl of Ramen in the world, but then, shinobi from the hidden village of noodle broth, are trying to steal it. If all I've got is my traps and stuff with me, I need to know which road they'll use to try and get the ramen, how many of them they are, and whether my traps can stop them all and keep the ramen safe all at the same time! Cause if I don't know all of it, my traps could fail to even catch them and they'll get away with the ramen-ttebayo!"

She blinked. "That's… one way of explaining it. But yes, you need foreknowledge if you intend to succeed as a shinobi using traps. If you work on a team that has a Hyuga, a sensor or a tracker of any sort, you'd have that aspect mostly covered, but even then, there exists the possibilities of the traps failing, or of them missing your targets all together."

Successful trapping of opponents was something she knew about because she had dabbled a bit on it earlier, utilizing things such as bear traps and paper bomb mines. Even with Neji's Byakugan telling her where the opponents were coming from in order for them to plant down her traps, it had still not done much good. Their opponent had attempted to flank them, missing her traps completely and going all the way around to attack them from behind. Any attempt she had made to lure them towards the traps had only succeeded, until they realized they were traps there, and then proceeded to avoid it like the plague, making most of her work pointless.

Sensors and ninjutsu experts were also the bane of all trap setting, because your opponents either sense the traps miles away or simply barrel through it with ninjutsu.

"So, what do you think I should do?"

She turned her gaze back to the boy, his two brilliant blue orbs looking bright and eager as he playfully tossed a rubber chicken in his hands.

"Me?"

"Well yeah, you're the expert." He rubbed the back of his head, "Should I still try and be an… uh, Ensnarement Specialist? Or… well, should I… you know?"

Tenten scratched her head as she glanced around the area. It was strange for someone to come for her for advice on specializations, as Lee had never done it, Neji would never do it, and Gai did not need to do it. Still, she stared around her team's training ground as she contemplated a way to make Naruto's goals of utilizing traps become more effective.

Training ground nine was nothing special. There was a small pond, numerous trees, and a kicking post that had been abused to hell and back by the furious feet of Lee. The training grounds were somewhat large, as expected from Konoha, and it was filled with the luscious green trees and a thick forest covering.

She turned her attention to the several bull's-eyes and stationary targets that she had also abused to hell and back by puncturing them with as many shuriken and kunai as she could. All of them hit the center though, now having extraordinary aim, although it had not always been the case, and once upon a time she couldn't even toss a rolled up paper ball into a basket three feet in front of her.

"Uh… hello? Tenten, you still in there?"

Her attention rapidly turned back to the blond, gazing at her up with eager eyes. She wanted to tell him that he was still an academy student, and he should not be bothering so much about any of this now, considering his Jonin sensei could just come up one day and kick all of his hard work to the curb. She likewise wanted to tell him that utilizing traps was not in his best interests, considering how he seemed to be a walking ball of chakra, and he would excel at becoming a ninjutsu tank.

She wanted to shake her head and contemplate what in the world she was doing, spending her Saturday morning off tutoring someone. This was one of the only two days when she was usually free from Gai, his eccentric mini-me and the fate-douche. What had spurred her to come out so early, and start training to learn how to deflect shuriken with a headbutt? It sounded like something Lee and Gai would do when they were fired up and did not think about the larger picture.

"Um… Tenten… You … uh, you never really wanted to be a weapon specialist did you?"

Naruto's voice had drew her from her thoughts, and she turned back to the blond, who's eyes were the same blue, but rather than sparkle, they seemed to have a curious depth to them, like someone had dipped their hands into water and caused continuous wavy ripples.

Then her mind interpreted the words and identified their semantic meaning together as sound around her started to slowly go mute.

"Well..."

She had never wanted to become a weapons specialist, even though she did like the sharp pointy objects. No, her true dream was to become like her role model, like Senju Tsunade, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, and the world's greatest and foremost medical practitioner. She had wanted to become a medic, a healer, someone who would aid her companions on the battlefield when they were wounded, someone who would ease and comfort bruises and pain. There were a thousand people who could kill and there were a dozen kunoichi who only knew how to seduce, but there were very few individuals who could heal and restore, because that was a truly difficult task.

One that had been too difficult for her, so it had seemed. Dreams were fragile, and reality came crashing upon the realization that she did not have the chakra control to become a medic. There was no hopes of her ever saving life in a profession that demanded all she did was to take it. So in the end, her dream tarnished, realization that her lifelong idol was a person she could never work to become, she had thrown herself into Weapons instead. She did love and care for weapons, she really did, but there was always the nagging reminder at the back of her mind that the only reason she was a weapons specialist in the first place was because she had failed her original dream.

Her goal of becoming a weapons master was just a cheap substitute.

Still, no one should have known this, or at least, remembered it. Not her sensei, not her teammates, and not even her adoptive father.

She gave him a steady gaze. "Why do you ask?"

"Huh? Whadd'ya mean?"

"No one has asked me that before. Ever."

She would remember easily if there had been anyone that had brought it up, but there was none. Questions she had gotten instead was about how she got so good at weapons and why she seemed to love them so much, but not one person had looked upon her and asked, 'you didn't really want to do this, did you'. It was like looking at a pro-fisherman, smiling with a giant shark in his hands, and then telling him that he never wished to be a fisherman and then somehow being correct. What could possibly even draw that conclusion?

"Well I noticed that –" he looked as though he was going to continue, before shaking his head "Uh… never mind. It – it's not important."

Her lips pursed. Not important? No, there was not a chance in hell that she was going to take that.

"Oh no you don't. If you've got something to say, you'd better say it."

He seemed doubly reluctant and it made her more annoyed. What was he hiding? Was he secretly some kind of stalker that had been following or was obsessed with her? It seemed unlikely for that to even be the case because she was certain she was a good enough kunoichi to have noticed someone wearing bright orange with bright blond hair stalking her.

"So what, you just looked at me and it came to you just like that? That's not possible. What tipped it off?"

"Well…" he rubbed his chin, his eyes still giving that strange depth "It's kinda in the way you throw."

She rose an eyebrow. "In the way I throw?"

What kind of vague ridiculous statement was that? How did the way she threw her kunai and weapons indicate anything of the sort? That was like saying that you could tell a husband was cheating because he always hoarded family funds, or a woman was a murderer because she cut meat at ungodly speeds.

She grabbed him softly by the collar and gave him the 'nicest' smile she could muster. "Naru-chan, would you kindly mind explaining what that means?"

"Gah! That's t-the only way I can explain it dattebayo!"

A pair of scissors was rapidly in her hands, summoned easily from her scroll in a puff of smoke, and her smile was becoming strained further and further as the seconds ticked by, and Naruto's face still looked reluctant.

"Try harder, or the orange jumpsuit gets it."

"Wait! H-hey now, t-there's no reason for the jumpsuit –"

She gave him 'the' look. The one she had first given Neji when he thought he could get away with talking down to her the same way he talked down to Lee, the one she got whenever someone insulted or called her one-dimensional for her choice in relying only on weapons, and the one that had usually sent tall bullies twice her size reeling back before her fists and even began to shatter their noses.

There was no mirth in her eyes at this point.

"I don't mind getting a black eye because of hijinks, but what I do mind, is when someone who literally met me yesterday can give me the googly-eyes, and then suddenly come to conclusions about things that not even my own teammates and Jonin-sensei realized. So either you start talking, or I start snipping."

His reluctance seemed to remain strong as his face squirmed in a myriad of expressions, right until the snipping of the scissors took off a large portion of the orange jumpsuit.

"Alright! Alright! You throw like Sasuke-teme!"

She blinked, the scissors coming to a stop in her hands. The name was infamous at this point, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who did not know Uchiha Sasuke, sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre.

"Explain. Now."

He groaned.

"When you throw, you don't really give off that super awesome vibe of you saying ' _I can do this_ ' even though you really can, you give off that vibe saying ' _I have to do this'_."

"And what's the difference?"

Uzumaki Naruto gave her a shrug, his shoulders raising and dropping in rapid succession, and his depth-filled blue eyes hit her brown straight on.

"I _can_ become the Hokage, but I don't _have to_ become the Hokage."

Not a word was uttered as she gazed into his eyes, and then eventually detached her grip from his collar, as she snapped the scissors close with a flick of her wrist.

"I think we're done here."

"Oi! Oi! Oi! What's that supposed to mean? What d'ya mean we're done?"

She dusted off her training attire as she gave the annoyingly perceptive blond a final look. She wasn't even sure if the blond understood the insinuations of his own statement, or perhaps he did, and maybe he was pretending not to.

"Hey! Tenten! Tenten! Where are you going-ttebayo?"

The clearing was left with only a blond boy within it, slowly scratching his head.

"Was it what I said? But she's the one who wanted me to say it! So why'd she get angry-ttebayo?!"

He proceeded to irritably scratch his head.

"Gah! First Sakura-chan, then Ino, and now Tenten… I don't get girls at all…"


	5. Inquisition IV

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am of mixed feelings on Boruto, but I still do not own it, and the opinion of a broke college student like me won't stop them from making it and earning millions.**

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind drew blanks.

Nothingness, a dark abyss was his thoughts and it was as though his brain had been replaced with the untarnished canvas of a great artisan waiting for the muses to grant him a revelation. His mind was like a large scab of stone, big, useful, but otherwise unattractive until the hammer and the chisel had been used to caress its form and therefore give it life. To turn the stone and carve it into something worth being considered a masterpiece that would be viewed upon by all who gazed it. The masterpiece which would be capable of inciting awe, beauty and wonder, as men would cast aside their garments in lieu of the sights that lay before them, and then genuflect down, their foreheads becoming intimate with the ground as they displayed their reverence.

The reason for this sudden blank state of mind, was none other than the resident, blond haired boy that was known to the Konohan populace as Uzumaki Naruto.

"Come again Naruto-kun, you invented a new jutsu, and you want to test it out on me, because you think I'm the only one who could handle it?"

When he had set out that morning, after his brief meeting with Yamanaka Inoichi, he had been expecting to find Uzumaki Naruto at the usual ramen stand or at his apartment, but rather, he had been directed instead to training ground nine. It was an odd sight, watching Naruto stand barefooted on the nearby stream, and performing different from of kinesthetic exercises on it, from jumping jacks to sit-ups, to vertical push-ups, clearly indicating that he had finally mastered the art of Water Walking and that he had done it to a tee.

Of course, what had made the sight odd and comical was how he had been muttering about women and girls throughout the process, and then practically debating with himself as to whether or whether not he should do something about… _something_.

Still, the Sandaime Hokage would not deny that he had not been expecting Naruto to have advanced so far in his training, and grasped the art of tree-walking and water-walking… _before_ he had even yet to graduate the academy. Of course, the Professor indirectly had a hand in this, as it seemed that Naruto had put the scroll he was given to good use, especially the chakra control training information that was embroiled amongst the mess.

Still, to have mastered both tree-walking and water-walking in merely a month? That was heavily impressive, considering the vast pools of chakra Naruto had at his disposal.

That same vast pool of chakra, was what had made the boy believe that he had supposedly invented an entirely new ninjutsu technique.

"That's right jiji!"

The blonde boy was practically springing and bouncing on his heels, a wide, over the top grin on his face.

Hiruzen merely let a resigned smile come unto his face. "You know Naruto-kun, most people wait until they've graduated from the academy and started their shinobi careers before they start inventing jutsu."

Naruto's lips moved into an annoyed pout. "But the academy's boring jiji! It's just talk about a bunch of stuff no one really cares about!"

His eyes crinkled in mirth. "Really now Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's expression didn't change. "Iruka-sensei once had us write a thirty page essay on the uh, major exports and stuff of the Land of Tea."

Naruto looked mortified. "He made us write about _tea_ jiji! Tea! I don't even drink tea dattebayo! Come on jiji, when will I ever need to know that the Land of Wind is dirt broke from importing fish and veggies, or the Land of Rain has got this weird leader that plays with lizards and poison, or the Land of Water has people fighting over who has the shiniest blood?"

Hiruzen didn't know whether to be impressed or baffled by the manner in which Naruto had just dismissed Hanzo the Salamander and diminished the importance of the Kiri Bloodline Purges.

"You'll need to know all of it Naruto-kun, if you want to be a good Hokage."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, before he frowned and begrudgingly let out a grumble. However, his eyes then immediately lit up once more.

"But jiji, I can learn all about that stuff from the library dattebayo! It'll be easier than sitting in class for _hours_ listening to it!"

Hiruzen's eyebrow rose, just a smidgen, as if to say ' _really? You in a library?'_

"Oi! I'm not _that_ bad-ttebayo! And – and I was able to use the scrolls you gave me, I learned Tree Walking and Water Walking from it all on my own too!"

That _was_ true, and Hiruzen would not deny the boy that accomplishment. Was it that Naruto was someone who learned things quicker and faster if he was left to his own devices? There was indeed the saying that a watched bot never boiled, and it could be that somehow, being in an environment with his peers who did not expect anything of him was somehow shunting his own learning capacity.

"So what you're saying Naruto-kun, is that you think you can learn things better if it was just you and the material alone?"

He rubbed his chin with his index finger. "Well kinda… I mean, when I'm learning on my own I don't have to hear everyone fawning over Sasuke-teme or hear people laughing at me whenever I don't get something right."

Hiruzen slowly stroked his beard. People these days had actually forgotten that failing was supposed to be allowed. When you succeeded at something, you learnt nothing knew except how to repeat the results to gain the same success. When you failed at something however, you learned what you did wrong, and discovered a new way of doing things as you pushed past the failure. Hiruzen knew that his successor, Namikaze Minato, for all the man's genius, he had failed over four hundred times to successfully replicate and improve on Tobirama-sensei's Hiraishin, but of course, such things never entered the history books.

Unfortunately, people had become afraid of failing, at failing even the most trivial of tasks like asking questions, not realizing that a fear of failure was hindering their own progress.

He knew that Naruto skipped the academy a lot, quite so much in fact that it was considered a miracle he was even considered a student, but he needed to learn, and learning was a priority.

Could he do what he had in mind? Well of course he could, he was the Hokage, and he had the power and will to do so. Should he do it? There the question became slightly muddled, but he supposed that the long term benefits would outweigh any possible disadvantages.

"Jiji?"

"Alright Naruto-kun, how about we make a little wager?"

The boy perked up. "Wager?"

"I'll give you one week and the library – _my_ library. It is yours to peruse however you so wish. By the end of the week, I'll give you the complete graduation exam to take. If you can score a perfect hundred on every paper, in every category, from World History to shurikenjutsu and ninjutsu, I'll allow you to skip the academy as much as you want, and still be eligible to graduate when the time comes."

He was already leaping into the air.

"But –" Hiruzen said, cutting off his celebration "On this exam, you have to make it a _perfect_ score. There have only been six shinobi in Konoha's history to get a perfect score on every single category of the graduation exam, meaning this is not an easy task. Anything less than a perfect score is not acceptable. If you cannot do this, then you'll never skip a single class in the academy again… _or else_."

He did not need to specify what exactly counted as the 'or else'. Still, Naruto seemed to be contemplating the offer heavily, and Hiruzen let out a small smile. Regardless of whether Naruto succeeded or failed the wager, it would still be the best outcome, as he would still end up learning the essential aspects of a shinobi.

Hiruzen wasn't actually expecting Naruto to complete the task, but he would certainly _try_ , and it would still work out in his favor. Of the six shinobi who had attained perfect scores, the likes of Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru and Namikaze Minato came to mind, all of them considered the brightest geniuses of their generation. Naruto might have been rather observant when it came to certain things, but he sorely doubted he'd be able to cram the entire six-year shinobi syllabus in just seven days, whilst at the same time working on his shurikenjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu and other supplementary skills expected of a Genin. Well, not unless he knew a certain forbidden technique, but there was no way an academy student had access to the Shadow Clone jutsu.

"You've got yourself a deal jiji!"

Part of him felt bad for the trickery, because he viewed it as simply a cunning way to make Naruto read more and train harder. Still, he supposed it would be a good learning experience for the boy.

"Alright Naruto-kun. I'll inform the gatekeepers at the Sarutobi Clan to let you in and use my library. Now, what was this powerful new jutsu you wanted to show me?"

Naruto beamed. "Hehehe… I've got a better idea jiji – I'm going to use this jutsu to take your hat!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi allowed himself a smile to grace his features, before promptly placing his hand on the legendary Hokage's cap. "Oh? Is that a challenge Naruto-kun?"

The boy cracked his fingers in front of him. "Hell yeah!"

Amusing as it was, Hiruzen supposed he would entertain the boy. After all, it wasn't everyday someone actually tried to steal an object from the most powerful shinobi in the entire village.

At the same time, it wasn't like anybody _tried_.

"Alright Naruto-kun," Hiruzen gestured his pipe out "If you can somehow take my hat in one minute, I'll grant you one favor."

Hiruzen knew either his ninjutsu repertoire or wallet would suffer it, as Naruto would most likely drag them to the nearest ramen stand and buy an all you can eat buffet, or ask him to teach him some new and awesome jutsu. He supposed he was allowed to spoil the boy, just a little.

What he had not been expecting however, was to blink as Naruto's eyes seemed to have a sudden clarity to them.

"One favor? Anything?"

Rarely had the Sandaime Hokage ever had to double-think his words, and on second thought, a favor from the man who was essentially the leader of the people, could be a rather huge boon. Of course, he was not going to back out of it now.

"Within reason of course."

Naruto was grinning, grinning wildly, wilder than he had seen the boy ever grin before.

"That hat is mine-ttebayo!"

Hiruzen blinked.

Were Academy Students allowed to move that fast?

~~~~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you for visiting Yamanaka flowers, please come again."

Ino sighed to herself as she watched the customer leave with a full bouquet in hand, the young man smiling vibrantly as it was obvious he was going to give them to someone special.

No, not entirely obvious. Ino could simply tell, because of the way in which the man had eagerly yet unsurely strode into the shop, the way his eyes had roamed all over the flowers as he searched for the most beautiful ones, and the way he scratched his head and muttered under his breath over and over as to whether or not 'she' would like this or like that.

It hadn't taken her long to move over to the man and adeptly select the adequate mix and blend of roses that he had immediately smiled and possessed the expression on his face that said 'this is the one'.

She wished she had someone special who would give her flowers.

She placed her hand on her chin over the counter, staring blankly at the passing people in the streets – her eyes wishing she would come upon a familiar lock of black hair, before her train of thought stopped, entirely unbidden.

" _But…" "…Isn't that the same reason why you like Sasuke-teme?"_

She couldn't help the annoyance that ran through her form. Every time she even thought about Sasuke, any single second that he was brought up in her mind, those words would strike down the thought with the vengeance and brutality of a Jonin assassinating an Academy Student.

It was made even annoying because she had been unable to find or meet the person who had uttered them to her, for over an entire month now, and she had all but given up on the search. Naruto was still alive, that much was certain, and he would be at the academy again. Choji claimed that he had seen him, so all she had to do was wait, and wait, and try and re-evaluate the reasons why she liked Sasuke while conjuring up random theories as to why Naruto asked her out on a whim.

She liked Sasuke because… he looked good.

That couldn't be all right? Well, it was mostly because he was mysterious and dark and had a deep, dark and troubled past –

She slammed her head into the counter and let out a groan. No, that couldn't be it either. That'd be saying that she only liked him because he was broken and she wanted to fix his 'brokenness'. That'd also be saying that if he was a happy, perky and normal person without a tortured past she'd have no interest in him at all, which just made her a horrible, _horrible_ person.

Her mind drew from the question of her crush and infatuation back to the knucklehead that had made her realize just how superficial it had been. She still pondered on what Shikamaru had told her, and tried to make some sense of whether or not Naruto really was observant, or not. Looking back, his grades had always been below mediocre, and he only ever tried once or twice. She could recall in class when Mizuki-sensei would ask Naruto a simple question like 'what is chakra' and he would respond 'chakra is the stuff that lets us do cool jutsu' and be berated. People would laugh and call him an idiot, Naruto would simply smile and scoff and then boisterously claim that when he was Hokage, no one would need to answer such questions. Of course, that'd just make people laugh at him even more, tell him to pipe down, and dismiss his declarations without a second thought.

Wait… now that she thought about it… he had skipped class the following three days after that event.

Then there was the time he had lost in a spar to Kiba, his Academy Style Taijutsu was filled with so many holes and openings that people had once again laughed and mocked it… whereas Kiba used his Clan's Taijutsu to beat him, and then claimed that Naruto couldn't become Hokage if he barely knew how to fight.

He didn't show up in class for about three weeks after that day.

Was it a pattern, or was her father's overly paranoid nature beginning to seep into her own mind? She groaned and let out a tired breath. Her gaze turned to the door.

"I wish the knucklehead would just barge in and save me the headache…"

Shaking her head, she turned around to organize the remaining few flowers in the display behind her, only to hear the bell ring.

"Welcome to – oh, it's just you forehead."

Ino was somewhat surprised when she did not hear the resounding shout or denial or comeback that was associated with the banter between herself and her 'rival' Sakura. The pink-haired, green-eyed girl seemed unusually subdued, making Ino's brow rise.

Now that she thought about it, what was Sakura doing here? Their rivalry over their affection of Sasuke had been one of the things that had torn a huge wedge in their friendship, and invariably ended up making them enemies. As far as she knew, Sakura had stopped branching by her house and seeing her outside of class.

"Hey Ino… are – are you alright?"

Ino's eyebrow furrowed. "I'm perfectly fine."

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, in which Sakura seemed to be contemplating saying something, but was holding back, and Ino was slowly finding it grating on her nerves.

"So you just came to the shop for the first time in almost three years just to ask me that? What gives Sakura?"

At this, the girl seemed to regard her warily. "Ino, you still like Sasuke-kun right?"

The Yamanaka heiress had her lips somewhat thinning as the question was brought up, especially considering the fact that she had been debating the issue herself.

"Where's this coming from?"

It was at that gesture that Sakura seemed to explode. "You've not been yourself Ino! For the past one month! You don't even look in Sasuke-kun's direction anymore or pay any attention to him! Whenever the girls are talking about him you just go excuse yourself and leave! Then last week in class, you sat next to him the entire day, but you didn't even look at him once!"

That sounded like news to her. "I sat next to Sasuke?"

Sakura looked appalled. "You – you didn't even _notice?_ "

No, no she hadn't. Her thoughts had been apparently to preoccupied with other things, but how in the world had she managed to sit near him for an entire class without even turning in his direction? Two months ago, if she sat next to the affection of her crush, she would be squealing and swooning and rubbing it in Sakura's face for the next six weeks at the very least. Now, it just seemed kind of pointless.

"Wait, just _Sasuke_? Not Sasuke- _kun_? Ino – what's going on? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me Sakura –"

Sakura vehement in her denial. "Something _is_ wrong with you! You've been different ever since you lost that bet – you've been staring off into space, ignoring Sasuke-kun, and you've been _stalking_ the baka of all people! You _Ino_!"

She was unable to help the splutter of incoherent words that came out of her mouth at the accusation. "I'm not _stalking_ Naruto –"

Well, she technically wasn't. Stalking would assume that she was following him around, and that would work solely on the assumption that she could _find_ him. What she had been doing was going to his most known or recently frequented locations, and then waiting for hours upon end to see if he would show up there –

Wait, that wasn't stalking was it?

Sakura seemed to heavily disagree, shaking her head back and forth.

"You've changed Ino."

There was a small part of her that felt incredibly, incredibly annoyed in the manner that Sakura had made that utterance. It was that part of her that could not absolutely stand for it, the part of her that was peeved at the manner in which Sakura had implied that her change was for the worse – as though she was the one in err.

"And why do you care?"

Sakura took a step back. "What do you mean? We're fri –"

Sakura had stopped that sentence realizing what she was going to say.

"No. No we're not friends." Ino said, her voice dropping, "We're not friends remember? We ended our friendship years ago when we both realized we liked the same guy – the same guy who _still_ hasn't noticed us over three years later – so we're not friends."

A thick cosseting silence blanketed over them, and green orbs met violet, two eyes which had gone through the years, gazing at each other with companionship and closeness, drifted apart with jealousy, anger, rivalry – all over what?

Ino found herself asking herself that question, now that she realized it. They had become rivals over what? They had sacrificed their friendship over what? Moments spent laughing in each other's company, grooming each other's hair, sharing everything they had, discussing fantasy weddings and magnificent white knights, envisioning themselves as princesses within each other's courts, caring, joking, smiling, all of it, sacrificed, replaced with vicious name-callings, arrogant remarks, violent outbursts and confrontations – for _what?_

For Uchiha-bloody-Sasuke.

She had sacrificed the closest thing she had to a sister, for a boy's affection.

How _stupid_ was she?

"Ino… you didn't answer my question. You still like Sasuke-kun, right?"

She had taken one step forward.

" _Right?_ "

Sakura's emerald eyes were almost glistening, searching, as though trying to convince herself of _something_ , though Ino did not know what. What Yamanaka Ino did know however, was certain.

"There are more important things in life than Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura recoiled, as though physically slapped. Her mouth opened, and then it closed, and then she shook her head.

"Sakura –"

The girl had not said a word as she departed from the store, and the door closed with a soft resounding click.

* * *

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kage versus Academy Student.

It was a match-up that wouldn't even be brought up as a joke, because the comedic value died quickly, similar to the Academy Student dumb enough to challenge a being whose sheer power and experience trumped theirs in lightyears. Of course, when the goal was not to defeat said Kage, but merely to steal an object from the man within a short time-frame, there _was_ a chance of success, regardless of how utterly improbable it was. These chances of success were also aided by the fact that the Kage would not be attacking, but merely defending and staying in a stationary position.

Still, despite these advantages, Sarutobi Hiruzen was rather interested in seeing just what his foster-grandson was capable of, if he was sufficiently… interested.

He had been expecting many things, but no one could ever be prepared for Uzumaki Naruto.

Thus, the minute of truth began.

The boy had lunged forth from his place, moving at a speed that was most definitely _not_ Academy Student caliber, and Hiruzen's eyes narrowed as he noticed a large emission of brief smoke trailing from the boy's legs, which were propelling his movement. The smoke was white and traditional, in other words, it was the chakra smoke that was emitted whenever a technique such as the bunshin, henge or kawarimi was performed, the same smoke which covered the Shunshin, and usually occurred as a result of a brief emission of excessive chakra being released into the atmosphere.

The smoke was further common when releasing or unsealing objects from scrolls, or performing the summoning technique, and traditionally, the smoke went unnoticed or ignored by shinobi, having no real use except but to provide a brief cover to their movements.

Naruto went above and beyond.

"Eat this jiji!" The charging boy placed his hands into the traditional seal for the henge "Kemurigakure no Jutsu!"

Hiding in the Smoke Technique.

Naruto had not been joking when he said he had invented a new technique. The Hokage would have burst out laughing in amazement as his entire vision, and nay, the entire _training ground_ immediately went up in an explosion of smoke. The white, all consuming chakra smoke climbing higher and higher and forming into the shape of a giant mushroom cloud, not that Sarutobi was aware of this as he placed his hand on his hat, to stop the billowing smoke from sending it flying as his clothes flapped vividly and he had to apply a bit of chakra to his feet to stop himself from being blown backwards.

Hiruzen blinked, as he noticed that apparently not even Naruto knew the full potential of his jutsu, as the boy was flailing backwards and having difficulty stand amidst the raging pillars of smoke, despite him being the one creating the technique in the first place.

"Gah! I think I overdid it dattebayo!"

He was sent soaring into the air by his own technique, and Hiruzen couldn't help it as he burst out laughing, the aged Hokage laughing like he had not laughed in a long time. Issues of control and direction aside, Naruto's feat was still highly impressive, especially considering the fact that not even Namikaze Minato or Orochimaru had ever gone as far as using the vaguest, most obscure aspects of shinobi arts, and then turning it into an undeniably useful technique, and doing so while they were _Academy Students_.

It was a truly impressive and noteworthy feat, and Hiruzen would have to rank the Hiding in the Smoke Technique as a B-Rank supplementary ninjutsu, though, he had a feeling it would be A-Rank because the sheer chakra that was in the air was overwhelming, as though someone has just created a thousand hefty shadow clones – which was the most chakra extensive clone technique available. Naruto's vast pool of chakra was the only reason he could even create this much chakra smoke and still be standing, if anyone else were to try it, they'd just be exhausting their reserves.

The smoke was not suffocating however, but merely obscuring, which was why it was supplementary. If Naruto could somehow make the smoke act like _actual_ smoke, that is, acrid and lethal to the lungs, it would be a deadly technique for any shinobi who wasn't a Wind Release Ninjutsu specialist. After all, people who died in burning houses were more than often killed by the deprivation of oxygen caused by the smoke, than by the flames themselves.

Still, Hiruzen also noticed that the smoke was evaporating fast, transforming into chakra in the atmosphere, which meant that it could not be used in prolonged encounter, but more or less used as a large diversion or smokescreen. Unless of course, the enigmatic blond could somehow make it last longer.

His musings about the technique were cut short when Naruto had rapidly broken through the smoke cloud, his form possessing a wild vivid grin as his right hand was outstretched for Hiruzen's hat, reminding the Sandaime that he had given the boy a minute to see if he could get it.

He had only twenty seconds left.

Hiruzen effortlessly negated Naruto's attempt, using his smoking pipe to smack Naruto by the wrist, destabilizing the boy and sending him to the left. Naruto to his credit, rolled with the momentum, performing an airborne cartwheel as his sandaled feet struck the ground for all of a brief second before he went in for another charge, this time with his left hand. Hiruzen's pipe came down once more, only to blink as Naruto grabbed on to the pipe wielding hand, his eyes sparkling.

"You're mine jiji!"

The Hokage realized that Naruto's grip was airtight, and rapidly came to the deduction that he was utilizing the basics of the tree-climbing technique to hold on tight, applying chakra to his palm to give it impeccable gripping quality.

Of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen was called the Professor for a reason, and what Naruto was doing was the basics of a long forgotten, Sticky Fist Taijutsu style which relied on strong grapples utilizing chakra as a base. It was a style that was hard to beat, if one did not know the counter.

"Nice try Naruto-kun."

Chakra burst forth from the tenketsu around the area, rapidly destabilizing Naruto's own chakra that was holding him in place, leaving the boy's eyes widening Hiruzen spun out of Naruto's hold, and literally spun the boy away from him, sending him airborne with nothing but a twist of his wrist.

Naruto was sent spinning in the air like he was caught in a tornado, before he landed on his butt amidst the smoke.

Fifteen Seconds remained.

"Gah! I thought I had you for certain-ttebayo! I haven't even practiced that move on anyone yet!"

Despite his words, Naruto did not look at all discouraged, instead, he rose up, amidst the smoky carapace that was their surroundings, still with a grin on his face.

"Guess I've got to show you my awesome secret technique!"

Naruto charged forward once more, legs propelling him towards the air as he made a fast grab for the Hiruzen's hat.

The Sandaime side-stepped, instincts and years of experience belaying Naruto's moves easily, the airborne boy's swing easily going wide, as he was left easily exposed and Hiruzen bumped him on the head with his pipe, sending the boy once more plummeting to the ground.

Twelve seconds remained.

Hiruzen's curiosity peaked as Naruto's feet never touched the ground. Mere millimeters away from when his blue sandaled would make impact with the earth, his form was rapidly absorbed by the familiar cloud of chakra smoke. Somehow, he rapidly regained momentum, thrusting upwards with his left arm in a sharp lunge for Hiruzen's hat.

The God of Shinobi's reflexes acted in place for his momentarily surprised mind, and he dodged once more, effortlessly twirling away from Naruto's assault, the young boy's grabby hands once more swiping futilely into the smoke, before he descended into a pile of white smoke once more.

Ten Seconds remained.

 _More_ smoke engulfed Naruto's form before he hit the ground again, and he was sent lunging towards Hiruzen at _faster_ speeds than before, leaving the Hokage no other choice but to slip into a soft stance, one that would be eerily reminiscent to a casual observer as that of the Hyuga clan, as caught the boy by the wrist, and swung him to the side, sending him flying into the obscure hazy clouds.

Only for Naruto to come barreling back at the Hokage at twice the speeds he was thrown, rapidly tossing a rubber chicken upwards in an attempt to knock off his hat.

Hiruzen ducked beneath the wayward latex bird and had his eyes twinkling in amusement and rapid intrigue.

Eight Seconds Remained.

What Naruto was doing was the equivalent of dropping a kunai to the ground, and then mere seconds before the kunai made contact, it would veer off upwards in a diagonal angle, suddenly gaining momentum from kami knows where. Essentially, Naruto had an infinite source of momentum and kinetic energy, each and every time he was engulfed in brief smoke. The true question was where or how Naruto was getting this limitless momentum from.

Still, only seven seconds remained, and it would be over.

"I've got you now jiji!"

Six seconds.

Naruto came charging once more from his left side, arms extended wide in a comical manner of a pouncing cat.

Five.

Hiruzen extended his palm towards the boy's ankle.

Four.

Only for his eyes to go wide as his hand slipped right through.

' _A bunshin?'_

Three.

There was a brief gust of smoke, and Hiruzen froze as he gazed upwards, realizing his folly.

Two.

' _He was the rubber chicken?_ '

One.

Naruto was above him, grinning, and aged brown eyes met ocean blue, one holding great determination to completing his task, the other holding a hearty pride and amazement, as the boy's hands lunged downwards descending towards the Hokage's hat, his thumb, index and middle fingers managing to softly grip against the top of the headwear and lift it a centimeter off Hiruzen's head.

Zero.

"Futon."

It was a nameless, generic wind technique that merely emitted wind-natured chakra in all directions, which was suitable enough to immediately dispel the Naruto's Kemurigakure no Jutsu, the gusts of wind vanishing the clouds of chakra smoke sending the boy soaring into the air, before eventually crashing into the ground in an undignified heap.

The fields of training ground nine were once again clear of smoke, and Naruto collapsed onto the ground, letting out a short burst of air as Hiruzen let out a soft breath, realizing that the time was up. He was uncertain if he was merely rusty from not having had any combat experience in over a decade, or if Naruto's sheer tenacity was great enough for him to have nearly succeeded in stealing his hat.

"That was not a bad attempt Naruto-kun. You – "

Naruto stood, his back was turned, and he could not see the boy's expression, but he seemed to be shuddering in place, shaking, and Hiruzen frowned.

"Naruto –"

"I DID IT! YATTA!"

Hiruzen suddenly realized that he could feel a breeze on his scalp.

The cheeky blond boy standing in front of him placed the Hokage's hat firmly placed on his head, and a wild, energetic grin on his face, his eyes twinkling in a manner that uncontrollably sent goosebumps down Hiruzen's spine.

"I win Jiji."

How had he –

Hiruzen's eyes widened.

"You applied the tree climbing technique to grab my hat."

It was a statement, not a question. Of course, Naruto did not seem to care as he jumped and paraded across the training ground with the cap on his head, leaping and whooping, throwing all manner of flips and turns without care.

Hiruzen let out a resigned breath as he watched the boy's antics. He placed his hand under his bearded chin and rubbed it slowly, trying to recall the events of the battle. He did not know how Naruto was limitlessly getting constant momentum from, which allowed the boy to rebound back faster than normal, and at the same time Naruto had henged himself into a rubber chicken, and he had sent out normal bunshins in his place, except, if he had henged himself, how had he thrown himself? The clone that had been attacking him was a basic traditional bunshin, not a solid one –

Hiruzen shook his head. Of course, he had been holding back and not taking the boy seriously, but there were too many mysteries within that display, and as much as there was a part of him that wanted the answers, he decided that every shinobi was indeed entitled to their secrets.

He also made a brief mental note to summon Enma, and find Maito Gai… it seemed that the numerous years behind the desk had truly rusted his skills. Heavens forbid a foreign village or his former student decide to attack, his rustiness would immediately be the death of him.

Or perhaps it was time to start looking into a new successor again?

Regardless, until he found a successor, he was still the Hokage, the strongest shinobi in the village, which meant that it was time to shake his old bones and start ensuring he lived up to that title.

His attention was brought back to the boy in front of him, still celebrating with his hat, and Hiruzen somewhat realized that Naruto just _might_ be able to get a perfect score on the academy graduation exam if he put his mind to it.

Rather than have him wait around after that exam, why not make the boy a Genin immediately?

Skill-wise, Naruto met and surpassed most of the requirements. Or at least, Hiruzen was quite certainly sure that no other person in history could claim to have accomplished the feat of stealing their Kage's hat from his head, as an Academy Student –Kage holding back or no.

Then there was the feat of actually inventing that Kemurigakure technique all on his own –

There was no doubt in Hiruzen's mind, Naruto was definitely Genin material. It seemed the Genin Corps might be gaining an addition earlier than expected.

"Alright Naruto-kun, you grabbed my hat."

The boy with the large oversized hat on his head turned to him, before giving a brilliant dazzling grin.

"Does that mean I get to ask a favor from you jiji?"

The Hokage smiled. "Yes Naruto-kun, one favor, within reason."

The boy's face seem to rumple up into thought and contemplation, as he slowly, but certainly began rubbing at his cheeks.

"I want you to spend the rest of the weekend with me jiji."

The Hokage blinked. Momentary surprise entering his form, along with a wealth of disbelief.

"What?" he breathed out, not trusting his own voice.

Naruto grinned. "That's my favor jiji. The only thing I really want from you is you, is _you_. When I have that, why would I need anything else-ttebayo?"

Hiruzen's throat felt fairly dry.

"Ah. I-I see."

It was often easy to forget, how Naruto had grown up with no parents, and no family, and no one to so much as sit down and talk with. How so easy it was to forget.

"Jiji? Is something wrong? Your eyes are getting all misty –"

"It's just the smoke from your technique Naruto-kun, nothing to worry about."

Hiruzen rumpled the boy's hair.

"We'll get back to discussing how you came up with that technique in the first place, but now that I'm all yours for the weekend, what would you like to do first?"

Naruto's grin grew wide.

"How do you like your popcorn jiji, buttered or salted?"


	6. Inquisition V

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and at this point, I'm running out of witty things to say in these disclaimers.**

 **P.S. - It is subtle, but look over the description for this story again. There, you will realize that this fic is AU - _"Since Always."_**

 **P.P.S. - The response for this story is simply amazing. I give you readers my sincerest appreciation.**

* * *

Sakura wasn't talking to her.

The heiress of the Yamanaka clan had spent the first half of her weekend attempting to find her fri – her rival, and only for the pink-haired girl to rebuff or shun her at every meeting. They'd met at the market, and Sakura turned the other way and acted as though she was in a brief hurry, and as though the person in front of her was an awkward stranger or an estranged lover, creating an air of social gracelessness as Ino had stood, like a scorned lover whose advances has just been publicly rejected. They'd met at the park, and Sakura's green eyes had hit her form as she moved with the crowd of nameless, Uchiha-worshipping bitc- _classmates_ , and the pink-haired girl's gaze would rapidly be averted, as though something more important had come into her field of vision, like the Daimyo had suddenly strolled by on an elephant, and was offering to take pink-haired girls as his brides.

Ino had tried her usual brands of teasing insults or comments, and nothing had worked, as Sakura had somehow become transcendent to the very barbs she would previously be quick to shoot down. She was perfectly content to pretend as though Ino did not exist, as though the girl she bantered with on a daily basis was a ghost and a wisp of air, unseen and unheard.

In response, Ino had spent the next half of her weekend in an obsessed, _infuriated_ frenzy, a work ethic and dedication that would have made certain spandex wearing individuals completely enthralled, and then, mystified, then worried, and finally, outright terrified.

Sleep? What was sleep? What had it mattered to her?

Food? Excellent, it would be the fuel to keep her moving.

Rest? A four letter word that had been ripped out of the pages of her dictionary, crumpled into a ball, and used as tinder to light the flames that spurned her forward and maximized her passion.

It had not been hard to sneak out of her room when her father believed her asleep, and head to the nearest training ground as her fists and kicks proceeded to turn the innocent dummies into splinters, hapless victims to her bubbling rage and frustration.

So Sakura had decided not to talk to her. That was fine – perfectly fine, she wouldn't even let Ino explain herself or her reason, or even give the tiniest of ideas as to what was wrong, and Ino found it perfectly fine.

It was perfectly fine.

"Ino… are you okay?"

The Yamanaka Heiress drew from her musing as she entered the classroom. Monday morning had come too bright and far too early for her tastes, the birds at her windowsill sung in a manner that turned her brain to a deck of cards at the hands of a master shuffler. Her response had been to toss her comb with unerring accuracy until it smacked the creatures in the eye and told them that their musical performance was unwelcome.

If that had not been enough, the sunlight pierced through her orbs as though a clan of divine giants had decided to attach a magnifying glass unto a torch powered by the collective chakra of a thousand Kage, and use said torch to blind little girls for fancy.

A combination of her irritability and impatience did not detract her from the fact that there were indications of bangs under her eyes that her make-up kit had not been able to completely hide, and her hair possessed a brief frazzled intensity that would make it obvious that it had not been as meticulously treated as was the norm.

Had Yamanaka Ino looked into the mirror, she would have set it ablaze and run screaming at the monstrosity that stood before her. Or, her reflection would have committed seppuku and saved both of them the misery.

"Do I look okay Shikamaru? If this face was the last thing you saw at night, would you still be able to sleep?"

The boy beside her blinked, his visage clad in shock, his jaw slightly lowered, his eyes wide, as he blinked numerous times in rapid succession.

"I – I'm – sorry Shikamaru. I'm just a little… tired." she said, letting out a brief sigh.

"You didn't get any sleep." He did not phrase it as a question.

"No."

Lying to Shikamaru was an exercise in futility. Problem with the boy was that when he wasn't being his usual extremely lazy self, he was damn perceptive, extremely much so that any slight indication or inflection would tip him off.

"Why?"

"I was… busy."

Murdering wooden dummies with her fists and imagining them to be the form of a pink-haired acquaintance was rather time consuming. Her eyes slowly strayed down to her fists, which were currently wrapped in bandages in the manner that taijutsu specialists did. Of course, the only reason for that was to hide the numerous bruises and cuts that were on the skin, which would have no doubt drawn attention from her father.

Shikamaru's eyes trailed towards her hands, which made her clench them unconsciously. Then, he turned his gaze back into her eyes, and they stayed there for several seconds, as though searching for something.

Judging, condemning, evaluating, analyzing, she could never exactly know what was running through the mind of the Nara when his gaze stopped resembling a sloth addicted to cough syrup. The gaze had stayed there for a few seconds, before, as always, the boy let out a drawled out sigh.

"Troublesome."

She rolled her eyes, in part to remove eye contact from Shikamaru, and in part as a response to the boy's usual remark. "That's your reaction to everything."

He shrugged, a lazy, half-hearted shrug in which his shoulders barely nudged upwards enough to be noticeable. "It's because everything is."

"Everything is?" she asked, her tone raising.

"Troublesome."

Typical Shikamaru.

"You won't get far in life thinking like that you know."

"I'll get far enough."

She sighed, shaking her head. This back and forth exchange existed between them for a very long time, with her trying to get him to actually _try_ for once, and him always refusing to budge. Ino paid no further heed to him, instead, turning her gaze to the door. She had arrived at school rather early after all, and other students were yet to arrive. Normally, she would have been watching the door in anticipation for a mop of shaggy blond hair, but today, her interests lay elsewhere.

Pink hair and green eyes entered into the class, chatting and chittering away with two fakers – _friends_ , and her eyes managed to stray upwards, to the row of seats where Ino was.

"Saku –"

Again, _again_ – her eyes flickered away as soon as their two orbs made contact. Ino was left, with her hand stretched out, her hopeful face slowly melting away, remnants of what was meant to be a beautiful meal, now an indescribable, black smudge.

Ino bit the bottom part of her lip, her fists clenching and unclenching as she could feel the heat building up at the back of her throat.

' _Why won't you talk to me?!'_

She wanted to yell it out, and she could feel the words die, stillborn at the back of her throat, forcing her to swallow the residues of saliva that coalesced in her mouth, pushing painfully down her esophagus.

Then, as always, black-hair and brooding gaze strode through the doors. Hearing Sakura squeal out had never sounded so foreign, so annoying, so aggravating to Ino's ears before. She could feel her teeth begin to mash against each other as her nails, routinely polished, dug into her skin slowly, with each and every passing second the thumps of her heart began to grow louder and louder to her own ears.

Her gaze zoomed in on the boy, who, as always, brushed aside Sakura, brushed aside her riv- _friend_ , as though she were a gnat not worthy of his attention for even a second. He regarded the insects he stepped on and the particles of dust in his path with more attention than he did her _best friend_.

Sakura was her _best friend!_

Yet, there the Uchiha went, not knowing, and not caring, about just what had conspired in the background in the name of gaining his attention. He sat, aloof as ever, unaware of just what had been lost and as to just what had been cost by the people who pined over his attention, waiting day after day for him to as much as _look_ at them!

"Ino…?"

 _Look_ at them goddamnit!

Just look at _them_!

"Ino – are you okay?"

Shikamaru called out her name, a trace of worry in the words that she did not pay heed to, as instead, she vibrated in her seat, and watched, as for the umpteenth time, the girls surrounded him and showered him with their wide-eyed affections and gifts and all he did, all he _ever_ did was to turn his face to the side, and let out that infuriating, exasperating –

"Hn."

The class went silent as a palm smacked unto a desk loud enough to draw everyone's attention. Slowly, everyone's gaze turned unto the form of Yamanaka Ino, as a portion of her hair covered her eyes from being seen, and some would note, that as they did see those eyes, they were grim, heavy, and radiating with a cold, inexplicable blizzard.

"Hey goldilocks what's up with yo –"

Her head snapped over to the class's resident delinquent figure, the Inuzuka boy flinching backwards at the withering glare thrown his way and the words he wanted to say died instantaneously in his throat. His puppy companion made small whining noises as it sunk itself further into Kiba's jacket, the boy himself wishing such was possible.

She moved over from her seat, each step sounding louder and louder to everyone's ears, until, she was in front of the desk of Uchiha Sasuke, the girls parting aside as a blanketing silence overcame all of them, as Sakura seemed to be looking at her again, but at this moment, Ino had a different target. She stood, gazing into the ebony eyes of the Uchiha, and for the first time, for the first time in years, she could tell, that Uchiha Sasuke was looking _at_ her.

She could not have been more pissed.

Her entire form shivered, angry breaths came forth from her nostrils like she was a mythical beast of fire.

Eventually, she roared.

"Fight me."

Silence begot greater silence.

Her words had been ground out, slowly, silently, but yet, in the mask of the great overwhelming silence in the class, she might as well have roared it over the top of her lungs.

"What?"

So he _could_ speak. He could say something, he _did_ notice their existence.

"Fight. Me."

She _dared_ him to refuse. Her eyes gazing straight into his orbs as she placed her hands on his table, even as she tried to control her breathing and did not so much as flinch as he gazed at her.

"Five O'clock. Training Ground 14. I'll be waiting."

With those words, she turned around and walked back to her seat, amidst the deeper silence, she took her place beside Shikamaru without saying a word.

 _BRRRIIING!_

"All right! Settle down you brats and be quie – eet? Huh? You – you guys aren't noisy today."

Umino Iruka entered the class, scratching his head at the oddity, before shrugging.

"Well, I guess it must be a rare day."

He had no idea.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke knew the meaning of hatred.

He knew what it felt like for every atom in his being and for every firing muscle and every thought, to be consumed with white hot flames, pulsing and screeching to be released and to completely engulf the target of his rage. He understood well, the process that was involved in projecting that rage unto your target, to have it channel within you, to sing within your eardrums and push you to a point that not broke past all limitations.

He knew hatred. He lived in it. He bathed in it. Every day he woke up and was greeted with silence, he was reminded of it. Every morning he walked into a living room that still stank of dried blood and screams, he was lavished with it.

Hence, hatred was one of the few things he could sense. Detect. He had grown so accustomed to it, that he knew, he merely _knew_ , when hatred was emitted in his general direction.

In his usual manner, disregarding of those playing at shinobi without a goal, he walked out of the classroom upon the lunch bell ringing. Within seconds, the news of the confrontation was already on the lips of a third of the Academy, and people pointed at him, with poorly shushed whispers and curious, uncertain gazes.

Ignoring them proved to be more difficult than normal today, and his teeth clenched behind his lips, as he decided he was not going to be dealing with their pitiful brand of gossip whilst trying to get a meal.

His strode away from the Academy, moving onto the roads of Konoha as he decided to get his lunch elsewhere, his mind still focused slightly on the events of the morning.

The girl, what was her name again?

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly. He could not recall the name of the blond haired girl, as previously, she had merely been another face amongst the crowd of females who wished for his attention in one way or another.

Yet, she was different.

There was no denying those eyes, those orbs of hers which had stared him down unflinchingly, there had been true, _pure_ hatred within them. Hatred, anger, and loathing – these were things that Sasuke believed himself intimately familiar with, however, he could not understand why her eyes possessed that much hatred for _him_.

He set his gaze on a small food stand not far away, his mind still deep in some form of thought. He could not recall or think of anything he had done that would cause someone to look at him with such heavy eyes filled with hatred, to the point in which the person went as far to challenge him to a fight.

Truly, the girl was not worth his time. The hate in her eyes was good, decent, enough that if she applied it with fervor to her training she would become strong, she would grow stronger at a magnificent rate. However, he did not have the time to humor her.

His target was _that man_.

His target was someone who had been ANBU Captain at age _thirteen_. He could not afford to waste his time fighting people who were weaker than him, people to whom he would not grow any stronger from defeating, and people who could not even be considered as stepping stones in his path.

His lips twisted into a scowl. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't refuse. He would not give those at the Academy the illusion that he was somehow _afraid_ of losing, or that he was somehow incapable of fighting against that girl. Instead, a crushing defeat would cement it in their minds once and for all that he was the best, the strongest shinobi in their entire generation, and that it would be unwise for anyone to even think otherwise.

He came to a stop at the small restaurant. It did not necessarily matter what he ate at this point just as long as he had something in his stomach. He took a seat, ignoring the noise around him, as he met the face of the brown haired waitress.

"Hello, what can I get you?"

He blinked. He had momentarily been lost in thought he had not even checked the sign outside to confirm what food this place sold.

"I want some – "

"Yo Ayame-neechan! I'm back! Can I get the Naruto special, and make it double! I've got some hard training to –"

There was a momentary silence, as dull black eyes turned to face brilliant blue.

"YOU!"

Sasuke grit his teeth. It was like the universe had decided that his day would be ruined by blonds. No, he was not going to deal with this right now.

He stood up from his seat and turned around, only to let out a 'gurk' as he felt someone drag the back of shirt, forcing the front end to tighten at his neck.

"Let go of me dobe!"

"No way! Ayame-nee would kill me if I chased away a customer, even if it's you teme!"

"That's none of my business, now let go of me!"

"Not until you've bought a bowl of ramen-ttebayo!"

What the hell was up with the idiot's grip? Sasuke knew there was no way he should have had that much power to be able to actually hold on to the back of his shirt with that much force, making him unable to leave.

"I said, _let_ _go!_ "

A heavy echo of ripping cloth resounded throughout the small shop. He stumbled forward, free at last, only to turn around and spot the familiar blonde boy holding unto a large part of his black shirt, the part which had the brilliant white and red fan of the Uchiha Clan on it. His back was now fully exposed, as his shirt was now more or less a tattered rag than it was any measure of cloth.

"Er… oops?"

It was official.

Uchiha Sasuke hated blondes.

" _DOBE!"_

* * *

"What in the world were you thinking?"

She cringed, the same question running through her mind at the moment. It was currently lunch period, and she had taken up her place beneath a tree, only to immediately find herself under the scrutiny of the one person in the class that she would have least expected.

 _Choji_.

Yes, not Shikamaru, who sat across from her, his eyes still in their usual lazy demeanor, the person who was actually scrutinizing her decisions, asking her the hard-hitting questions and making her realize the error of her ways, was _Choji_.

"Well… I wasn't really… thinking?" she said meekly, which was somewhat understandable as Choji sat beside her, his normally round and cheerful face twisted into a narrow-eyed scowl. His bag of chips lay in his hands, but they were _unopened_.

Really, Choji was a darling but no one really understood how terrifying the boy could be when he was taking something seriously.

"Yes, Ino, you weren't thinking." He said, shaking his head and making her shrink further as she turned to Shikamaru and sent him her best 'help me' look.

The pineapple-haired Nara turned his gaze away, pretending as though he had not seen her at all.

" _Traitor!_ " she mouthed.

He looked as though he was going to mouth something back, before shaking his head as though he realized it would consume far more energy than he was willing to give, and instead, he resorted to another lazy shrug.

To her side, Choji sighed, his face looking far less intimidating as he began rubbing his cheek. "Ino – you know you can't beat Sasuke in a spar right?"

She was the type of person who usually did not like being told whether or not they could or couldn't do things. "Come on – I have a chance –"

"No." Shikamaru said, placing his input for the first time in the conversation, and turning both of their attentions towards him.

"Sasuke might be the most arrogant person in the entire class, but most of it is well-deserved. He just might be the strongest Academy Student in Konoha, whereas, you occasionally struggle to defeat _Sakura_."

"Hey! Don't use Sakura as a measuring stick, you make it sound like she's…"

Choji's gaze looked over to her. "Ino, I don't like admitting it either, but Sakura really does have the lowest taijutsu and shurikenjutsu performance in our grade, and you… well…"

He sighed. "You… _struggle_ to beat her. I don't see how you can go up against Sasuke and win."

Ino found herself biting her lower lip. "Maybe – maybe he won't show up?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "His pride won't allow it. Failing to show up could send the wrong message that he was too scared of you to fight you rather than you not being worth his time, and he'd never allow it."

She frowned. "Then, what if I don't show up?"

Shikamaru and Choji glanced at her, and then glanced back at each other, silence resonating between the two boys before they turned back to her. It was at that moment that Ino realized the weird strength of the dynamic that was possessed by the two boys, in which they seemed to understand each other without so much as saying a single word.

She was close to them, yes, that much was true, but a small part of her could not help but wish to have that same level of camaraderie that they had. To have that same level of companionship with someone.

Choji was the one to begin. "Ino, no one will easily forget the day you challenged Uchiha Sasuke to a spar and then chickened out."

That much was true. She would not be able to carry her face held high ever again without being reminded of the moment, the day in which she had marched up to the seat of Uchiha Sasuke, frightening Inuzuka Kiba with a glare as her own gaze met with that of the Uchiha, and so brazenly _challenged_ him.

Warmth rapidly seeped into her face and cheeks as she recalled the entire thing.

Kami what in the world had she been _thinking?_

That was a question that Choji also seemed interesting in discovering the answer to. "Really Ino, what were you thinking _?_ I mean… you've never done anything like that. _Ever_."

She bit her lip. "I – I was just angry! And annoyed! And maybe the lack of sleep played a part but –"

She groaned as she ran her hands through her hair.

"I just wanted Sasuke to look at them, at us, at _any_ of us! To pay the girls who fawn over him at least _some_ attention!"

Shikamaru and Choji remained silent.

"I mean, we can be annoying sometimes, and pushy, and thoughtless, but we do _care_ about him. _Sakura_ cares about him. Yet, I wonder if he even knows her _name_."

Silence wafted amongst the three friends, the only audible sound being Choji's rummaging of a bag and crunching of chips, as their small group could still hear the buzzing and chatter amongst the students, because there were numerous mixed feelings about her challenge to Sasuke.

"Troublesome."

Again, Shikamaru managed to convey her thoughts exactly in one word.

Still, she looked over to the boy, and realized that he was even usually more invested in her life than usual. He was alert, listening, watching, his eyes weren't half-lidded, and his form and posture wasn't slouched and lazy. This was the most she had ever seen Shikamaru interested or focused at something.

He caught her gaze, and his eyebrow rose. "What?"

"Nothing – I'm just… surprised. Glad I guess… I mean you rarely ever pay attention to anything… so…"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If you get beat up by Sasuke, your dad would find out and he won't be happy. He'd complain about it to my dad, and my dad would mention it to my mum, and I'd be the one chewed out for standing by and letting it happen."

Her left eye twitched. "Of course... once a lazy bum, always a lazy bum. Just when I thought you cared…"

"I do care. I don't want you to get beat up."

She tilted her head. "Really?"

"If you get beat up, you'd be sore and grumpy, and considering I'm the one who seats next to you in class… that would be _really_ troublesome."

More irritation flowed through her form as her eye continued twitching, a tick mark appearing on her forehead.

"Shikamaru doesn't mean it Ino. He really just doesn't want you to get hurt."

Ino sighed. Leave it to Choji to abate her anger with a few choice words.

"Thanks guys, but you make it sound like I don't stand a chance against him – but, I'm a lot better than I look. I have a plan."

"No."

They both said at the exact same time, causing her to flinch back in surprise.

"Y-you didn't even listen to what it was!"

"Um Ino, the last time you had a plan, it ended with you looking for Naruto all over Konoha, and getting angry that you couldn't find him."

Her mouth opened, and then it closed with a dry clack.

"Trust me, this – this is totally different. It'll be different this time."

For whatever reason, the two of them gave her looks that showed clear disbelief, and a little bit of apprehension. Still, Yamanaka Ino was certain, that her plan would work.

What was the worst thing that could –

She stopped that train of thought immediately. There was no way she was going to jinx it. Nuh huh. Not a chance.

She already had terrible odds enough, no need to stack _fate_ on top of that.

* * *

Umino Iruka knew that what he was doing was wrong.

There was a major risk to it, considering he was not an eccentric higher tier jonin like Hatake Kakashi, who could simply smile off his transgressions through a masked façade and a lazy, asinine excuse. He knew it in his heart that it was wrong, doubly so given his post as a teacher of young corruptible minds, and he knew that his reputation could take a severe nosedive like a rare Earth Country Eagle swooping down and snatching an unsuspecting lamb suckling at the breasts of its mother.

There was a very real risk involved, which of course included some of the rather more prudish kunoichi, who would henceforth regard him like a maggot that had emerged from the excreta of a worm upon discovering the nature of the act. His place in society would be condemned forever, and he would be unable to do as much as stare into the eyes of clerks when he bought his groceries without hearing hushed whispers and condemning judging looks.

Regardless of all of this, he sat on the stall of the Konoha Academy's male staff bathroom, giggling away as his fingers gently turned aside another page, enjoying the feel of the paper, and ignoring the dribble of blood that emerged from his left nostril.

It was a new Icha Icha novel, and he'd be damned if he didn't read it.

"Kazama-san you sly dog… grabbing Rashina-chan _and_ Nikoto-chan?"

It was a guilty pleasure stretching slowly into the realms of a bubbling obsession with the book. He had begun reading the previous night, promising himself to only go about thirty pages before stopping and then getting some sleep so he could wake up bright and early and have more energy to shout at his usual brand of annoying brats. Of course, 'thirty minutes' later and there was the sound of a rooster crowing as beads of sunlight burst through his window, only drawing his attention because of the manner in which they had landed on a particular… _feisty_ paragraph in the book, and making the Chunin instructor realize his folly.

He had been expecting it to be a horrible start to a day, but imagine his surprise on getting to class and meeting it quiet, completely removing the need for him to actually exert more energy shouting at the top of his voice in order to get the normally rambunctious brats listening to him.

Not to mention the fact that they all seemed eager to learn!

For once, all the students in the class were all at the edge of their seats, furiously scribbling and answering at his questions with the accuracy and speed of a master archer who had been blessed with an arrow-creation kekkai genkai. Everyone seemed eager and even _impatient_! As though they finally realized that they were not learning as much as they normally could be and wanted to absorb as much as possible in one day!

Hell, even _Sasuke_ answered questions in class!

And _Kiba_ was quiet all through!

Iruka could only attribute this legendary stroke of fortune on his end to the gods of erotica finally granting him blessings for being a loyal and devout follower. Hence, he had decided to repay them by continuing to read their holy scriptures, which was of course delivered by their anointed one, the Toad Sannin of Konoha.

It was lunch break for now however, and he knew he only had a few minutes of reading, and as long as he was able to allow his fingers rub the sharp edged pages and hardback spine, allow his nose take in a further decent whiff of the crispy smell of newly made paper, and allow his eyes to roam over the artistic masterpiece written in words, then he was suitably satisfied.

The day seemed to be getting better by the second, and so far, nothing could ruin it!

He froze, a shudder running down his spine as he stood up from the seat and closed the book. He peered out the stall, towards the windows, and paid close attention to any sound he could hear.

Okay, that was close. For a second he believed he might have tempted fate and just invited some sort of great catastrophe upon himself by uttering those dreaded, often ironic words.

"Calm down Iruka, you've just been reading too many novels lately… I mean, what are the odds that saying 'nothing can ruin this day' would actually cause something ironic that would happen and prove my words wrong? This is real life…"

Still, he put the book in his pocket and opened the staff door, peeking to ensure that there were no hordes of angry kunoichi about to lynch him for reading erotica in the Academy while he was on duty.

Sighing, he closed it and turned around.

"Chunin Umino Iruka."

Umino Iruka saw death.

Umino Iruka saw death in the form of purple hair, and an unmistakable cat ANBU mask.

He did not respond, instead, he made a large, tiring sigh, before he slowly closed the book with a thick snap, and then he pocketed it. Calmly, he got unto his knees, and then bent his head lowly.

"My only request is that you make it quick and painless."

He kneeled in that notion for several seconds, waiting constantly for the blade that would cleave his neck for his actions, only to blink in surprise when, after numerous seconds, it did not come.

He flicked his head upwards back at the woman, the ANBU operative that was code-named Neko, and yet, despite not being able to see her face, he could tell that she was clearly amused by the entire display.

"Are you finished?"

He blinked, once, twice. Then, realization that the woman was not about to execute him for reading Icha Icha in the privacy of the male bathroom dawned upon him, and he leaped up to his feet, coughing awkwardly.

"Ah – of course – ANBU-san, I – er – I was just… practicing… for a recital… a play – or musical – about the honorable death of a samurai – ha – ha –"

Maybe she really _should_ kill him, if only for how pathetic that excuse had sounded.

"What you do in your free time is of little to no interest to me Umino-san," she said crisply "And you are clearly too timid to attempt corrupting a student, so I have no need for concern."

Iruka winced at the "timid". He honestly didn't know if he should feel relieved, flattered, or greatly insulted.

"I am here on the orders of Hokage-sama. Yamanaka Inoichi believes that someone could have been tampering with the student's records, scores and exams. Most particularly in case of bias against the student, Uzumaki Naruto."

All at once, Iruka's form straightened, and he was instantly all-business.

"That's – well, I know that some teachers may not particularly get along with him, but I don't think anyone would go as far as to –"

"Unfortunately what you _think_ does not matter. What matters is that I have been given a task to accomplish, and you will aid me in accomplishing it."

Iruka took a step back uncertainly. He knew that the ANBU weren't exactly the most friendly of individuals, considering the lives they lived which included witnessing and committing gruesome acts of murder, assassinations, and sometimes, even genocides.

Still, he felt that the woman was just a _tad_ bit rude.

"Hokage-sama requested that I meet you, and stressed the importance of discretion in this task. You are to gather every test script, every record, every paper or document in relation to Uzumaki Naruto and his classmates and you are to hand it over to me without drawing attention to yourself." She said in one quick, brisk and formal breath.

"Are you up to the task?"

Iruka's nose rumpled up. All at once, the reason as to why the woman had decided to ambush him in the male bathroom made much more sense. Still, he found himself confused, wondering why there was need for all the secrecy – it was just a couple of assignments and exam scripts, not documents detailing all the concubines possessed by the Daimyo's wife.

"I don't get it, why all the mystery –"

"Because this mission is technically classified."

Iruka scowled. "Classified?"

"Classified." She repeated again, though with a noticeable strain in her voice. "This is why I do not quite get along with shinobi in administrative positions – years spent in an unchallenging, unchanging environment ultimately dulls your skills."

" _Excuse_ me?"

"What would happen if an ANBU operative were to walk into the Academy and ask for a compiled scripts of students on orders from the Hokage? Amongst whom, are Seven Clan Heirs to the most notable clans in Konoha: the Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Inuzuka, Hyuga, Aburame, and the last Uchiha?"

Iruka blinked.

"A reason for this would be demanded, and if the reason is given as an "investigation", the question will be asked as to what is the purpose of the investigation, which will bring into the light the matter of a suspected bias of a teacher against a student, and therefore suggest the possibility of foul play in the administration of the Konoha Shinobi Academy."

Iruka stared. "W-what?"

"What would you say if you were accused of elevating the clan heirs and giving them special attention over the rest of your students, allowing them to have better grades and scores?"

He immediately flared. "T-that's preposterous! I would never do anything like that –"

"I am aware of that," she stated, "However, the civilian populace are not. In their perspective, if one teacher is capable of letting his own personal bias influence him enough to sabotage a student, who is to say, _all_ of them aren't?"

He swallowed dryly.

"I – I hadn't thought about it –"

The ANBU shook her head. "Of course you had not. It is not your job to consider the details and delicacies of the Konohan Socio-Political system. You're just a Chunin."

Never in his entire life, in all his years, had Iruka ever felt his rank feel so _inadequate_.

"Now, I ask you again, are you up to the task?"

He did not trust himself to be able to speak, and instead, he merely tilted his head up and down.

"Good. After the classes are done for the day, I expect the files to be compiled and ready for collection."

She had vanished in a swirl of leaves that left Iruka standing, in a daze, as he brought up his left hand, and he ran it through his hair.

' _Just a Chunin…_ '

The three words pierced at him with a form of raging heat, and indescribable cold, as though someone had ran him through iceberg that was tipped with magma.

Idly, his gaze flicked over to the Icha Icha book on the ground, and then, he stared into his hand.

The loud echo of the bell broke through the entire Academy, and slowly, mechanically, a machine unhinged, a wound-up toy unleashed, Umino Iruka turned around and walked out of the bathroom.

A brand-new, crisp-clean, hard-cover novel left abandoned to the pristine white floor.

* * *

"Oi teme… people are staring at you."

"That's what happens when a dobe rips off a portion of your shirt and you have to walk back to your home shirtless."

"Hey – I did offer you my jacket-ttebayo."

His eyes flickered to the orange and blue monstrosity.

"No."

"Teuchi-jiji offered you one of his oversized shirts –"

"No _."_

"And Ayame-nee offered you an apron too –"

" _NO."_

Honestly, all of those options were far worse than walking the way he was right now. He knew that lunch time was almost over, and the journey back home would take a while, but it was worth it rather than going back to the Academy the way he was.

"Gah your clan compound is way too far! It's almost like no one wanted you temes close to the village or something."

Sasuke grit his teeth. "Why are you even _following_ me?"

"Uh… cause I feel kind of bad about ripping your shirt and stuff?"

He grunted. "I don't need your apology. Just leave me alone."

"Oh come on teme! I'm just trying to help you out –"

Sasuke rounded on him. "I don't _need_ any help. Especially not help from _you_."

The dobe was absolutely infuriating. Sasuke stared at him, with those wide-eyed blue eyes, those eyes that looked upon the world as though it was made of butterflies and roses, as though rainbows were rivers and it rained happiness and goodness. The dobe's eyes were as bright and as clear as the sky, always looking free – limitless, _open_ –

Sasuke _hated_ those eyes.

It was one of the reasons he avoided the boy, avoided the dobe. His was a disease, an infection of obfuscating stupidity and gullibility – a naïve, open-hearted moron that would ultimately end up dying within his first five minutes of being a shinobi.

Yet, Sasuke was sure, that even if the dobe were to be cut down by an enemy shinobi, he would be smiling in his final moments, as though he was happy, as though he was peaceful – as though he was _satisfied_ –

"Oi teme – you're shaking – are you okay? It's not _that_ cold-ttebayo –"

The dobe had moved his hands towards him, to touch him, and Sasuke smacked it down with vehemence, the clap echoing loudly and the attention of everyone on the street to the both of them.

" _Don't_ touch me."

Hefty silence resonated.

"What the hell teme!"

Sasuke did not care for the attention, and he found himself gritting his teeth as he angrily stalked down the abandoned route to his clan compound. He paid no heed to the sun striking against his exposed back due to the tear, he paid no heed to the stares and hushed whispers, as he instead made way back to his house, back to the reminder –

The reminder –

That was all it was to him. A reminder.

His very home was a reaffirmation of the fact that the dobe was a fool. A very reassertion as to the fact that you shouldn't, you _couldn't_ trust anyone, trust anything – that the world was place that was a place of comedic-sick cruelty and unjustly-hilarious jokes.

"Oi teme! Wait up!"

Sasuke mashed his teeth the hardest he could. The dobe was _still_ following him?

"Leave me the fuck alone dobe!"

He broke into a fast paced dash, his top speed, becoming a bit of a blur to anyone not at least Mid-Genin level. His torn shirt made wild, air-slapping ripples against the wind. His feet left the ground in a succession so rapid, it was as though they were levitating.

 _There_ , he thought. _There was no way the dobe will catch up to me now_.

"Teme!"

He was blindsided, a blur, so rapid and so fast that Sasuke barely even had time to register the fact that it was coming in his direction. The next thing he knew, he was tackled. Instinct worked immediately, as he thrust his feet out in an offensive-defensive maneuver, kicking away his attacker and gaining some distance from him.

Ultimately, both boys stood across from each other, and Sasuke grit his teeth as he found himself slightly panting, yet, across from him, the dobe barely even looked winded.

"Oi teme – what the hell is up with you-ttebayo?"

Sasuke stared at him, stared at his eyes, those same eyes, showing him _compassion_ , showing him _care –_

Earlier, when he had not known the boy as well, Sasuke had assumed that it was all faked. He had assumed that the laughs were a façade, that the smiles were forced, that the happiness and cheer was all an act –

"Why…?"

Except it wasn't.

"Why –"

 _It wasn't_.

Those eyes, those sentiments – all of it – all of it –

" _Why are you so happy_?"

The declaration had sprung forth in a manner that made his own voice unrecognizable to his own ears. The dobe had also flinched back, clearly not expecting, not anticipating, the wild question.

Sasuke found himself in the same shoes. He didn't understand it, didn't understand what had spurn forth that basic inner rage and anger inside him, didn't understand why it mattered – all that mattered was killing _that man_ – nothing else mattered. Nothing else was _supposed_ to matter.

Except, they did.

He had always thought of the dobe as someone who could understand him, or someone who could at least, _relate_ with him – they both had similar, if slightly alternate circumstances. They both knew this, and though they had never mentioned it out loud, there was this understanding, this inherent conflict that had started as the very basics of their rivalry –

Except, despite how much both of them truly understood the concept of _loneliness_ , truly experienced the meaning of emptiness –

The dobe smiled his way through everything.

Why? Why? Why?

"Because…" the boy said, _still_ smiling, _still_ grinning "It beats the alternative."

There was a relative amount of silence between the both of them.

"I get it, teme. I get _you_ – even though you try to be all cool-and-aloof and stuff – Not that I think you're cool or anything-ttebayo! – I mean, you're still a teme… though you _can_ be cool sometimes I guess –" The dobe ranted, leaving Sasuke just staring at him.

"Forget it."

The Last Uchiha put his hands into his pockets, as he moved to turn around.

"Not having family sucks you know."

The six words had made him freeze.

"When you get something right, you don't have anyone to celebrate with you. When you fail at something or fall, there's no one there to tell you that you'll get it next time or help you up. When you fall sick, you have to stagger your way out of bed and treat yourself 'cause there's no one there to nurse you. When you feel hungry no one will help feed you. And when you have dreams, there's no one there to give you the confidence that you can achieve it."

Sasuke's breath hitched slightly in his throat.

He turned around, his eyes turning to the boy, as he noted, now, with a difference, those bright blue eyes had morphed, transformed even, to a shade a tad darker, a shade with far much more depth, a shade that seemed to analyze everything and anything, a shade that seemed to withhold no secrets, to disregard privacy and to break down walls in the name of sentiment –

These eyes, they were so happy – so happy –

"… _it beats the alternative."_

And all at once, they weren't.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, his voice a bitter whisper. "It sucks."

There as a rush of movement, and then, Sasuke blinked, as in a blur, the dobe was in front of him, hand out, and big, large smile.

"So teme," Naruto said, grinning "Let's be family!"

Silence.

" _No._ "

"Aw, come on teme! We were having a moment here-ttebayo!"

"Moment's over."

"Let's be family!"

"Not a chance in hell."

"We could be brothers!"

"I'd rather die."

Strange as it was, Sasuke found himself bantering with the dobe all the way until he reached his Clan Compound. However, there was still the lingering feeling at the back of his mind that he was forgetting something important -

Ultimately, he decided it didn't matter, or rather, it was decided for him that it didn't matter, as he began his game to chase the (surprisingly fast and nimble) dobe out of his Clan Compound.

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

"Um... Ino... the sun's been down for a while now... I don't think Sasuke is going to show..."

"Any minute now, Choji... any minute now."


	7. Inquisition VI

**Apologies for this rather short chapter. Between my final year/senior college/university project/thesis/paper, and my luck in being selected for a local Chess Tournament, I have been unable to dedicate the proper time for this fic (Cause this fic is serious business yo). Alas, the Christmas Break will be here soon, and hopefully, updates for this story will kick back up.**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and now that I think about it, I really would not want to own it. Fame and money aside, it is the inherent greatness and flaws present in Naruto as we know it which enables us to go to such depths to write or read fan fiction about it. If the show was written as _I_ or _you_ wanted it... this entire fan fiction community would not exist.**

* * *

The sun wasn't yet up.

Konohagakure no Sato was clouded over by the sweet afterglows of early morning fog. Dewdrops of water drooped, coruscating, and the soft cold air hung in abeyance. The sky was tinted a brief dark blue. The birds were drugged and the insects were mute.

It was in this early tranquility, in which even the most fervent and steadfast of mothers would banish the thought of rousing from their depths of slumber, and the most eager of shop owners would assuage themselves that time was in their favor, that a brown haired man worked.

The Training Ground was desolate. One would easily be thought a mad man, to have been found present there at the ungodly hour. Yet, this was the strange, peculiar case. A rhythm had begun with the sound of labored breaths, not the variety expected of more sensitive activities of the night, oh no, rather, it was the sort that one would oft find coming from men who were fleeing from their lives, running, being chased, as though cheetahs had metamorphosed into demons from the beyond, and were hot on their tails.

Grunts of exertion followed in the same manner. The sounds, echoing dryly into the night air that one would have been forgiven if they assumed a vengeful spirit had risen with the intent of haunting the location with all the subtlety of a scorned lover plotting a swift comeuppance.

Beads of sweat mirrored dew drops. Falling in their own manner unto moist soil, mixing with the earth and forever marking it with the scents of human effort. The man in question allowed himself a brief sigh, a quick reprieve, before he rose, stretching his arms as far back as he could.

It wasn't easy, he noted.

It was not easy, not as easy as he had thought. That, perhaps, was the strangest paradox. He _knew_ it was not easy, yet, he had calculated that the difficulty, no matter how vast, would still be surmountable. It was not easy to lift a horse unto your shoulder and toss it into a bath, yet, he had been prepared for the difficult task of lifting, of the weight, and of the determination required to painstakingly put one foot in front of the other as he approached his destination, and unleashed the equine into water. However, he had not been prepared for the creature to resist all the way through, to squirm to fight _back_ , and to extend its rear and deliver hooved kicks into his skull.

It had only been a day, and he knew there could be no immediate results. Still, he had expected, or at least _anticipated_ , that he would have been able to lift the horse, and take his first step.

Instead, he had barely been able to make the horse _budge_.

The analogy of the horse was quite apt, he noted with a sigh. One filled with bitter merriment, the taste of acrid fruit and soured lactate staining his palates.

Maybe if he were to utilize more analogies, his students would be more inclined to listen to him in class. Or perhaps, would that instead put them to sleep instead? Would they stare at him like he had grown two heads, the second of which was a cross between an aged monk and a pubescent teen?

 _Perhaps_ , he thought, _this was a bad idea_.

It was unlike him to get riled up so strongly. It was unlike him to grit his teeth and squeeze his fists and then declare that he was going to become stronger. It was unlike him to find himself completely discontent with his peaceful life as a teacher, imparting new knowledge to the cheerful students who wished to become legends in their own rights.

The world needed teachers – it was a necessity. Teachers were the ones who built up foundations, who continued traditions, who passed down legacies and ensured that their students would survive, and most importantly, _thrive_.

He had always wanted to be a teacher, and he had achieved that goal of becoming a teacher. Then came the next question.

 _Now, what?_

He had never felt the need to ask himself that question before. He was perfectly content, perfectly fine with his post, his role, as an instructor to young, gentle, fragile minds and hearts of young innocent children. A task he would continue to do, until perhaps one day he would maybe open a larger academy and become a principal.

" _Just a chunin._ "

Then, _then_ , he remembered those words and his dream fell flat. His ambition became empty, shallow. He could not hate the woman, the ANBU, for he knew the type of lives they lived. He knew that they had seen horrors and committed unspeakable acts in order to ensure that people like _him_ , were able to live comfortable lives out of general risk.

The statistics did not lie, as most shinobi in administrative positions tended to live, on average, at least _three times_ longer than shinobi in the active field. Some of them even got to _retire_.

Only four out of ten shinobi actually lived long enough to see retirement, and of those four, three of them were bound to have been in administrative positions.

The man shook his head, staring at his sweat drenched form, and he resisted the urge to laugh for doing something so ridiculous. That ANBU had lit a powerful spark within him, one which was burning even still, and the first thing he had thought of doing was to rush out and train, and then become a Jonin, just to disprove the woman out of _spite_.

Except, he knew that he wasn't Jonin material. Jonin were the cream of the crop, the best the village had to offer, most of them were either war heroes or experts in one specific art or another, and some of them had gone above and beyond to be considered S-Class.

In contrast, he, well –

He was pitiful.

Slightly above average chakra reserves, average handseals speed, average genjutsu skills, average taijutsu skills, average ninjutsu skills, average – _everything_.

He was the very definition of what a Jonin was _not_. There was no magic he was going to use to suddenly find himself standing at the top with the likes of Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai, and the question of course, was that did he even _want_ to stand amongst them?

He shook his head and sighed. It was a fun thought, entertaining the idea at the time, but of course, there was no way anything close to that would ever happen.

"Iruka-sensei?"

He blinked, his mind drawn from his musings as his eyes flickered over to a familiar blond haired form. It was a form that he had not seen for weeks, and a form that he had often queried the Hokage on, only to receive often vague confirmations about the boy's whereabouts and activities.

"Naruto?"

The boy's face scrunched up as he stared at him.

"You stink Iruka-sensei. You really, really need a bath."

Iruka's left eye could only twitch ever so lightly. He wanted to immediate raise his voice, demand questions, ask where the boy had been and what he had been doing, and chastise him for that being the first thing that had come out of his mouth after not seeing him for a long time.

Instead, he said none of those things, and sighed.

"Sure."

The boy blinked, his eyes immediately going wide. "Huh?"

Iruka scratched the back of his head. "I'll take a bath Naruto – heaven knows I need one, at least, before classes start for today anyway."

The boy stared, before immediately going defensive. "Oi – oi – who the hell are you and what have you done with Iruka-sensei?"

He resisted the urge to allow his eye twitch. "Very funny Naruto."

"KAI!"

This time, Iruka's eye _did_ twitch, when he noticed the young blond charge with his hand placed in the familiar seal for dispelling Genjutsu.

"A double-layered illusion! That just proves that there's no way you're Iruka-ttebayo!" He pointed his finger at him accusingly. "I'm not gonna lose to some imposter! KAI!"

Iruka's eye began twitching madly, as a slow tick mark was beginning to form.

"Huh? A triple layered Genjutsu? N-no way! KA – OUCH!"

His famed fist of tough love was rendered upon the blond's head, smacking him down as Iruka held the comically steaming fist up.

"Still think this is a Genjutsu?"

Iruka watched, as Naruto turned over from his position on the ground, a large fulfilled smile on his face.

"Ah – there you are Iruka-sensei! Hey, hey, did you know that there's a guy going around henged as you-ttebayo?"

His eye continued twitching. "Oh?"

"Yeah!" Naruto sprang up to his feet in one motion "I mean, he looked like you and all, but he kinda got your face all wrong."

"My face huh?"

"Yup! The guy was all scowls and broody and kinda emo-ish… like teme, but constipated."

Iruka's tick mark returned in full measure.

"So I knew he couldn't be you! I mean, Iruka-sensei is the coolest, kindest, most awesomest teacher I know! Nothing ever gets him down!"

Iruka could not help the manner in which his annoyance deflated. Instead, he could only let out a smile and give a chuckle. "Awesomest isn't a word Naruto."

"Bah! What do those dictionary-guys know about making up cool words?"

He smiled. "I'm sure the _lexicographers_ know a lot more about it than you might think."

Naruto grinned, a wild, carefree grin.

"See? Only Iruka-sensei would know about awesome words, or know that awesomest isn't a word, or know about mexicographers –"

" _L_ exicographers _._ " He corrected automatically.

Naruto shook his head. "See? You're cool Iruka-sensei."

Iruka could only let out a brief chuckle at his student. "As flattered as I am Naruto, I'm afraid most of what I know is general knowledge. There are Jonin who know much more than I do."

Naruto pouted, putting his hands lazily behind his head. "I don't see any Jonin spending seven hours a day to teach us anything they know."

Iruka blinked. Was it coincidence that Naruto's topic had strayed into an area that his mind had recently been contemplating?

Of course it was. What else could it be?

Still, Iruka engaged in his 'lecture tone'. "They can't Naruto. Jonin are the elite shinobi of the village, and they are needed in the field, carrying out important missions in which they risk their lives and wellbeing for the good of the village."

"I know all that-ttebayo!" Naruto whined, "It's just, you know, they're this super-awesome elite ninja type that everyone wants to be – you think they could spend a _day_ out of their free time and stuff to just branch the Academy and teach us something? Teach us _anything_?"

Iruka's mouth opened, and then it closed. "There… are reasons… why I don't think that would be possible."

Naruto quirked a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Well…" he placed his hand on a chin "Once you graduate, you'll be assigned to a Jonin-sensei, and they will handle your training –"

"Doesn't that mean that teaching us stuff while we're still in the Academy would kinda make their jobs _easier_ for them in the long run? I mean, we'd already know each other and have a grasp for some of the more complex stuff and all."

Iruka found that to be _somewhat_ true. "Most of what they could teach you would be rather advanced for people in your age and level Naruto –"

"Which would be way better-ttebayo!" Naruto yelled his hands going up into the air. "I've been reading jiji's books and there was some stuff in there about Elemental Natures, and how each person has a distinctive nature, and how it takes _years_ to master them! Just think about how much cooler and stronger we would all be if we started learning _at the academy?_ "

And what, let impressionable young children gain access to giant fireballs, tsunamis and hurricanes?

That would have been his response, except… well, it wasn't like that _wasn't_ supposed to be the case anyway. Kind and caring he may be, but naïve he was not. Would it not be better to let them have access to these powers early? To teach them the value of responsibility more firmly?

What if a child accidentally shot a fireball at another child and caused grievous harm?

On one hand, both the assaulting party and the receiving party would learn a very valuable lesson about the potential danger inherent in the power and chakra they possessed, and on the other hand, once word got out to civilians, they might be wary of sending their children to a place where they could be grievously harmed or killed.

Or, the children in question would be allured by the realization that there were people their age with that kind of power.

"All I'm saying Iruka-sensei," Naruto began, scratching the back of his head "Is that all we learn is what you guys teach us-ttebayo. And if you taught us – well, if you _really_ taught us, not just boring us to death with old stuff written in books or making us memorize stuff that we'll never really need –"

Naruto shrugged.

"We'd be awesome."

The gears in Iruka's brain churned, as though it had been an old rusty engine which had recently been firmly cleaned and lubricated.

The Konoha Shinobi Academy Teaching Syllabus had not changed too much since the era of the Second Hokage. The only major difference had been the restriction of the graduating age, to allay fears of any more child geniuses going berserk from the pressures of the Shinobi lifestyle, but that was it. They taught the same subjects, the same routines, implemented the same drills and the same practices. This routine of teaching had grown so monotonous that most of the teachers and students alike considered them a chore.

They considered the Shinobi Academy a waste of time.

Iruka could feel his heart thumping heavily in his chest.

He could never be a Jonin. Sure, he could manage to make his way to Special Jonin class, and then what? Where would his satisfaction be attained? From going on harder, more dangerous missions? From the better paycheck? From the sense of adventure?

Money was not an issue. Danger was not his calling. Adventure was not his dream.

Oh no. He would never be a Jonin.

Instead, he was a _teacher_.

What if he had been looking at it the wrong way? What if, instead of wanting to become more in the sense of accomplishment did not mean a promotion?

What if it meant, he became a _better teacher?_

To teach, to implement knowledge and understanding and tactics, to have his students possess sharp wits, sharper skills, and the sharpest of minds and blades.

So sharp, that upon graduation, their Jonin instructors would gaze upon their skills, mouth agape in astonishment, as the bewildered question escaped their lips:

" _Who the hell taught you that?_ "

Their answers?

" _Umino-fucking-Iruka, that's who."_

And when the lips of Jonin sang songs of a mysterious teacher who went above and beyond with their students, and said students went on to excel above and beyond, carrying the lessons of their mentors, of their _sensei_ –

He would not even need to find the woman who had scorned him, as she stared in confusion as to how a mere teacher was more respected than she –

He would smile and say:

" _Of course you wouldn't understand. You're just an ANBU."_

Iruka let out an excited breath.

"Thank you, Naruto."

The blond in question blinked owlishly. "Err… you're welcome? I guess, for whatever awesome cool stuff I did that you're thanking me for?"

He rubbed his hand through the blond boy's hair, a deep smile on his face.

"You helped me realize something. And, I think you may have helped a lot more people than you realize as well."

Naruto grinned. "Helping people is fun."

Iruka's smile grew wilder.

"Yes it is Naruto."

The image of a classroom full of rambunctious people filled his mind, and the image of these people smiling came right after.

It really is."

* * *

Yamanaka Ino knew that the end was near.

It was one thing, to have challenged Uchiha Sasuke to a spar, and it was another thing, to realize that Sasuke had not shown up for said spar. The people at the Academy had spun it in as many different ways as they could, in as many different stories or tales as their imaginations, primitive, wild or vivid could go. Some had assumed that it simply meant Sasuke did not consider Ino worth his time, and as such, had dismissed the challenge. Others had claimed, that Ino was actually going to use her Yamanaka abilities to mind rape the Uchiha into blissful oblivion, and as such, he was wise to avoid the fight. Some even went as far as to believe that Sasuke was afraid of her, because she was his mistress or something completely ridiculous.

And just like that, she was immediately the most popular girl in school.

"This. Is. Torture."

She groaned as she made her way to the academy, unable to _not_ notice the stares, the whispers, the pointing fingers and hushed conversations.

"It's not that bad Ino."

Thankfully, she had at her sides, the only two boys she could call her friends at the moment. To her left, Shikamaru walked, his eyes were like that of a tranquilized giraffe, staring vacantly at the path ahead without much care or attention to the rumor mill. Truly, Ino felt that the boy's level of apathy was slowly transcending mortal limits.

In contrast, to her right, Choji was animatedly eating a bag of potato chips, and though he seemed quite as normal as usual, Ino could tell he was nervous. He bit at the chips three times before swallowing them, whereas she knew he could simply toss one into his mouth, and often did simply toss one into his mouth, chewing twice to savor the flavor before swallowing.

She rubbed at her temples, not sure if she should be proud or creeped out at the fact that she had memorized her friend's eating habits enough to ascertain when something was wrong.

"I mean – all the girls look at you as though you're some sort of hero now."

She let out another painstaking groan. Unfortunately, the consensus as to why Sasuke had not shown up had rang in favor of the theory that he was afraid of her. Now, there were tales going up as to how she was the second coming of Tsunade Senju – possessing a frightening fighting prowess that even the Last Uchiha, a certified prodigy in his own right, was terrified of going against.

"It'll blow over soon enough." Shikamaru had said in his usual lazy drawl. "These things usually do."

It was true, in a sense. All she had to do was _not_ add fire to any of the slowly increasing, utterly ridiculous flames that were the rumor mill, and soon enough, they'd see, and they'd come to realize, that there was absolutely no truth to any of it.

The only, _small_ benefit, was that the Uchiha Sasuke fanclub had actually… _died_.

Ino herself could not explain how that worked. The majority of the girls who were usually chanting and celebrating about Sasuke had become incredibly subdued.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio took up their sitting positions as usual in the class, with Shikamaru's immediate impression of a drunken sloth, Choji's impression of an eager foodie, and Ino's… well, Ino. The scene which had awaited them, had been that of Uchiha Sasuke entering into the classroom, either unknowing or uncaring of the whispers which made Ino sink further in her chair.

Then, as always, he took a seat, placed his hands on the table, his chin on his hands, and he turned his gaze out the window.

And then, the girls that fawned over him entered the class, the thickening silence slowly rising –

And they all silently dragged their feet into the back seats, as _far_ away from Uchiha Sasuke as possible.

"The end is nigh Shikamaru. Mark my words. The. End. Is. Nigh."

"You're not a prophet Ino. It'd be really troublesome if you were."

Ino watched, with slightly bated breath, for long pink hair to eventually arrive through the door, only to frown upon seeing long black hair and pale eyes instead. Said girl had entered the class, and then she immediately seemed to look flustered as the backrow seats where she normally stayed was occupied, and the class was getting fuller and fuller by the second.

The only few seats available were –

 _Oh hell no_.

Ino watched with widened eyes as Hinata, the shiest girl in the class, moved toward the seat next to the Last Uchiha, as she timidly asked him if it was taken.

And of course, Sasuke did not respond.

"Hinata-chan!"

The girl flinched at the calling of her name, and all eyes once more turned to Ino.

Shikamaru's eyes also opened at the call. "Ino? What are you –"

"Here, you can come have my seat."

"A-ah a-ano I-I c-couldn't p-p-possibly –"

She marched down to the girl, grabbing her surprisingly soft hands and taking her back up to the higher seats.

"Move Shikamaru."

The lazy boy in question sighed. "Troublesome."

Just like that, the rumors escalated.

" _Did you see that?"_

" _Ino's totally kickass! The way she rescued Hinata-chan from that jerk."_

" _I told you girls that Ino was awesome! There's no way Sasuke would want to mess with her!"_

Ino ground her teeth slowly against each other and firmly, vehemently, resisted the urge to slam her head against the table in the seat she was presently occupying.

 _Dear Kami, could this day get any weirder?_

Then, just as she had uttered that prayer, that question to the gods –

Umino Iruka walked into the classroom. Silent, quiet, as though he were not supposed to be their teacher, and immediately, all the eyes strayed towards his direction and his odd behavior.

Then, he brought up their thick, hardback, Academy issued manuscript.

"Katon."

And he set it on fire.

 _The end is nigh._


	8. Inquisition VII

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do however, own the warm and fuzzy feelings I get from reading the lovely reviews. Once again, extremely, much appreciated.**

 **The first 'part' of this story shall soon be coming to an end, and I can only hope that the second will be just as entertaining.**

* * *

Sarutobi Asuma did not consider himself a ladies man.

This, he supposed, was an unfortunate side-effect of his questionably ruggish looks and appearance. He was built strong and hardy, and his finely developed beard was one thing that accentuated his appearance more firmly than anything else. Of course, the fact that his lips were almost often occupied with a familiar white stick, and his breath unfortunately stank of dry, acrid smoke could also be a major detractor.

That was why, on this particular day, he had made sure to get the strongest breath mints he could find before he entered the Jonin's lounge. Recently back from a rather successful mission, wallet filled to the brim with suitable wealth and satisfaction, all that was missing from his life at this moment, was a companion to which he could share all his victories and successes.

Being a former member of the Fire Daimyo's own elite bodyguard squad, the Twelve Guardians, had often put him in many situations where he would find young and beautiful women, and where he would have to either protect or kill these young and beautiful women as the job required.

Bedding them, of course, had happened, once, or twice, but he knew, and they knew, that the act in and of itself had no real meaning, and it was merely two people attempting to release some steam from the rigid routines of their daily life, with the sweet caresses and touch of the opposite sex. A relationship was an impossibility, as he was a shinobi, and they were most certainly not.

Hence, it made sense to him, as to find someone who he _could_ possess a relationship with, someone who would not be squeamish as he regaled her with the grimy and unfortunate details of his job, someone who could understand and relate with said grimy and unfortunate details, and someone, who overall, could stand at his side if need be, facing off enemies in a valiant defense for their home and their loved ones.

And he felt, that he knew _exactly_ just who that person was.

Walking into the lounge, his breath was as fresh as newly plucked and squeezed mint leaves, his gait and back as straight as a kunai thrown by Kami himself, his chest puffed up, shoulders broadened, and the thick, wafting smell of cologne trailing around him like a wispy specter whispering encouraging words into his ears, Asuma was certain that nothing could go wrong.

Until the sound of sweet, melodious laughter entered his ears, the laughter of none other than the very person he felt, could be his destined soulmate.

"…Wow, did she really?"

A small part of him grew irate, as he realized, that there was someone there chatting her up, another Jonin most likely. It was to be expected, as _she_ was a reasonably new Jonin, freshly promoted from her previous rank of Special Jonin as her Genjutsu skills had ultimately gained recognition, and her work in the field had marked her as exceptional above her peers. She was also beautiful, _incredibly_ so – with an appearance that often left him a blithering mess, abandoning all forms of grace and finesse that his occupation had drilled into him, and leaving him able to do nothing but smile at her.

He eventually walked forward, ready to see who could possibly be the one he would deem as his competition, the one who could possibly make her laugh as sweetly as she did –

His eyes were not ready for the orange.

Nor the green.

Nor the spandex.

Nor the bowl cut.

"Ah! Asuma-san! How YOUTH-ful of you to join us!"

Nor was he ready for the yelling. No one was ever ready for the yelling.

His lips crinkled into a grimaced smile. "Gai… nice to see you too."

Barring the exception of his father, the Hokage, and perhaps, the Copy Ninja, Kakashi, Maito Gai was the strongest shinobi presently within the walls of Konoha. Asuma could not hate the man, because he had accomplished a great deal of feats, and he was a true and trusted ally of the village, who would sooner kill himself than betray it, and he would be just as willing to give his life in defense of it.

Still, his eyes trailed over to _her_ form, the woman who often had him turning in his bed for many a nights, whose chilling red eyes could stun him to stupor, whose laughter could make him melt and float and burn all in one instance –

Yuuhi Kurenai stood, actually _happy_ to be in the man's presence.

There was nothing inherently _wrong_ with Gai of course, he was a good shinobi, a strong shinobi, a loyal friend, an honorable man, a _great_ man even. However, he was flashy, visible, boisterous and extremely, _extremely_ eccentric –

Surely Kurenai had no interest in him right?

 _Right?_

"Kurenai-san,… great to see you as well."

"Likewise Sarutobi-san."

He inwardly grimaced. "Please. Call me Asuma – anything but Sarutobi-san."

The name Sarutobi was the name of his clan and the name of his father, and it was _not_ his name. Not _his_ legacy. He wanted as little to be connected to it as humanly possible.

"Gai-san was just telling me about some of the exploits of the sole female student on his Genin team."

Asuma rose an eyebrow at that. "Really?"

Idly, the Guardian Shinobi wondered if it was possible for Gai to have gotten even more enthusiastic.

"Of course! Young Tenten is a vibrant and budding flower amongst the large field that is youth!"

Could this man create a sentence that did not have that damned word in it? Still, Asuma could not help his lips twitching into a slight chuckle. There was no mistaking the emotion that was clear in Gai's eyes, the sheer unbridled pride which permeated from his form like the thick musk of scented candles.

"Tenten not only graduated as the Kunoichi of the Year, she was so far ahead of her female peers, that had it not been for Sandaime-sama's law about the graduating age, she would have graduated the Academy much sooner."

Kurenai's eyes were sparkling at this point. "Oh?"

Crap, this was not particularly good. Kurenai was the type of woman who enjoyed hearing about other successful kunoichi, particularly if they were still young and budding. If Gai went on further about his student, Kurenai might be interested in seeing her, and if she got to see Gai's student on a regular basis, it meant that she got to see Gai on a regular basis, and if one thing led to another –

" _Oh, Gai-san,"_ _Kurenai said, now clad in iconic green latex, smiling and winking "Please show me your... power of youth_."

NO! NO! NO!

NO!

NO!

 _Get a grip man!_

What was he thinking? This was Gai he was thinking about! This was Kurenai! Come on! And even if she did, somehow, end up dating someone else, sure, it would suck, and it may leave a vacuum in his chest, but it wasn't like he owned her, or could make her decisions for her. So why was he so goddamned paranoid about losing something that didn't even belong to him?

He coughed awkwardly. "You know, I was thinking of taking on a team as well from the next graduating set."

Kurenai and Gai turned to him at the same time.

"Really?"

No, not really. He was not exactly the best type of person cut out for teaching, because he enjoyed a simple and sweet lifestyle. Sure, he had gained a few students here and there and taught them, but that was entirely different from having a Genin team. Hell, he couldn't even imagine himself sitting down a bunch of troublesome brats and constantly being responsible for their lives and ensuring that they _didn't_ go out there to get themselves killed.

Of course, he couldn't say that now could he? Kurenai was looking straight at him.

"Of course," he said, the words escaping his lips as though it were not the furthest thing from the truth. "There's something about children… the amount of potential they have in them. They can do great things, greater things than we can imagine, if only we let them, teach them, and help them."

Her eyes softened, and in his mind, a mini-version of himself did a small victory dance.

"YOSH! Your words ring so true Asuma-san! I should have known that a man directly related to the Sandaime would be truly so honorable!"

He mashed his teeth together, forcing it into a smile. There it was again. Always, everywhere, every time, every single bloody time –

 _A man directly related to the Sandaime_.

Twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven full years of living, and it still happened.

Genin at nine. Chunin at twelve. Jonin at sixteen. Black Market bounty of thirty-five million Ryo. One hundred and fifty A Rank missions completed. Eighteen S-Rank missions successful.

None of that mattered when your father was the _bloody_ , damned _God of Shinobi_.

Or worse, all of it was _expected_.

Damn, he needed a smoke. The reprimand he would get for smoking the familiar white stick from Kurenai would be far more preferable than the surly repercussions continuing the conversation in his slightly irritable mood.

As expected, Kurenai's nose wrinkled when she saw his slim white companion.

"Those things will kill you, you know."

He laughed even as he whipped out his lighter. "Kurenai-san, if I'm killed by these… I'm one of the lucky ones."

It would mean that he had lived long enough to for the smoke to do significant damage, and that alone, was of course, a rather grim fact. She realized it too, and her face immediately went slightly grim.

 _Smooth Asuma. Real smooth. Way to kill a mood._

"Ah, now that the youthful Asuma-san brought up the issue of children –"

He rose an eyebrow as he realized that Gai seemed slightly less solemn, and then he turned his attention to Kurenai.

"I will confess Kurenai-san, the reason I started up a conversation with you today, was not entirely random. It has to do with a rather serious matter."

Asuma choked on his cigarette.

No, no way – Gai was – was Gai about to ask Kurenai out? The issue of children – did – did he want to have –

It seemed that he was not the only one with that thought in mind, as Kurenai's eyes widened, her eyes flicking over to him slightly.

"O-oh? And w-what exactly is the reason?"

Gai slowly let out a hefty – but still hearty – sigh. "I am afraid that I do not quite understand the workings of a maiden's mind, let alone her heart, and alas, I wish to make my proposal to you."

No – No – This _was not happening!_ Asuma stared at his cigarette as though it were a completely foreign object, questioning if the nicotine within had been replaced with some foreign substance that was responsible for this unbelievable scene.

However, the one consolation, was that Kurenai looked unusually… _distressed_.

Could it be –

YES! She didn't like him! And now that Asuma thought about it that was kind of sad for the big guy, but that was so much, much better for him.

"Actually, Gai-san," Kurenai said, cutting him off before he uttered another word and also clearing her throat "I just remembered, that Asuma and I have not been entirely honest with you either."

"You haven't?"

"We haven't?"

A heeled foot slammed on his pinky.

"I mean," Asuma said, wincing "Yes – we haven't."

Sarutobi Asuma was not a religious person, but even he could not help but feel that this was the work of some sort of god, pleasantly interfering in his life for once. Kurenai's eyes flickered over to him, and it didn't take long for him to interpret and act.

His arm slid over her shoulder.

"Kurenai and I have been… together… for some time now."

At her smile and nod, Sarutobi Asuma knew without a shadow of a doubt:

 _There is a god._

"YOSH! That is WONDERFUL!"

Two sets of confused eyes stared in unision.

"Huh?"

"Come again?"

Asuma had not realized that it was possible for Gai to be even _more_ enthusiastic than normal.

"It is absolutely amazing! Asuma-san! Kurenai-san! May your blossoming love flourish into something of legend!"

Wait, wait, wasn't he supposed to be… disappointed?

"You –" Asuma tested the word, "You're not mad?"

Gai blinked in confusion. "I do not understand. Why would I be?"

"Your proposal –"

"Ah, yes! I was going to request that Kurenai-san aid me in assisting my student Tenten. She has been…" Gai frowned "…slightly under the weather lately, and she refuses to explain what the matter is. As she is adopted by her sole father and is lacking in a key feminine parental figure in her life, I was hoping that Kurenai-san could step in and shed some light, or perhaps assist her with her issues."

Oh.

 _Oh._

"So when you mentioned children –" Kurenai began.

"I was referring to my student yes."

"And when you said you did not understand the workings of a maiden's mind or heart –" Asuma continued.

"I was still referring to my student…" he clarified, before his eyes lit up once more "Oh but, this is such great news! Two wonderful friends of mine are together and bound by the most youthful force of all!"

"Ha. Ha-ha. Yeah… we're… together alright…"

Wait, why was Kurenai glaring at him? Wasn't this also partly _her_ idea?!

"Ah, that reminds me, Kurenai-san, about my request –"

"Of course, I'd be absolutely happy to help your student."

Gai beamed. "WONDERFUL!"

Then, he smiled. "Ah, as Sandaime-sama has contracted me to engage with him in a series of spars in an attempt to rekindle his flames of youth, I must be off! But Asuma-san, Kurenai-san, I am certain your father and all our friends would be pleased to hear about your relationship!"

Kurenai's eyes widened. "Wait, Gai-san –"

"YOSH! THE POWER OF YOUTH BURNS STRONG!"

And the man was gone in a soundless, silent, and utterly professional Shunshin.

And it was at that moment, Sarutobi Asuma began sweating bullets.

"… So… we're together now?"

If looks could kill, Asuma was certain that he'd be a dead man.

* * *

Uzuki Yugao had far more important things to do than this.

"Oi – ANBU-san! ANBU-san! Come on ANBU-san! Please?"

One, amidst the list of important things she needed to handle, was the completion of her mission assigned to her by the Hokage himself. It was a folly, she realized, to have, even for a second, delegated authority to someone else in aiding her to complete the mission. Umino did _not_ show up at the required time to hand her the important documents, an error to which she realized, was caused by her own oversight as to the level of competence possessed by the scar-nosed man.

"AAAAANNNBUUUU-SAAAAAAN~"

Yugao ignored the urge to grit her teeth. Rather than completing her mission, here she was, stuck in the Hokage's Office with the primary cause of the mission she very wished she could complete. Leaving things uncompleted was for the lazy and the incapable, the procrastinators and dreamers – the foolish idealists who were more enamored with the 'idea' of doing things than they were with the actions themselves. She was a doer. She got things done. Efficiency was a primary watchword. Her career and life was centered firmly around an organized schedule of optimal actions which were to be conducted at optimal times for maximum results.

"It's just one jutsu –ttebayo!"

Perhaps the boy would realize, that it would be a waste of his time to continue to pester her on ninjutsu knowledge. Somehow, he had known that she was present in the room, despite it being seemingly empty after the Hokage's departure with her colleagues for a hidden training ground which could only be used by the military ruler of Konohagakure no Sato.

The greatest taijutsu expert in the village and the strongest, long-lived Hokage in Konoha were going to engage in a full out duel. Rather than being there to observe and learn, to improve the mediocrity of her own skill in the might of titans, she was here…

"Jiji would never know!"

Babysitting.

To call it mere babysitting however, would be a slight oversight. Instead, she chose to view her actions as important, as she was protecting the Hokage's Office and the doubtless, numerous important documents and secrets which were kept within them.

Her gaze through her mask flickered down to the boy in the room, who was bouncing up and down excitedly around her. A part of her questioned why the Sandaime would ever do such a thing as granting full access to his office library to the boy, to visit and peruse as he so desired. Another small part of her, would not deny, the spark of envy that came with the realization that this boy was essentially being mentored by the Professor, the God of Shinobi himself, albeit indirectly, and he may not even realize it.

She ruthlessly crushed that part of her with all the might of a Sannin slaying a naïve Academy Student. It was not her place to decide what or who the Hokage chose to impart his wisdom to, and perhaps, as far as she knew, the young boy might actually be capable or worthy of his knowledge.

"AAAANBUUUU-SAAAAAN!"

 _Perhaps_.

The boy let out a long sigh. "Oi, Anbu-san – if you won't teach me a cool clone jutsu, could you at least teach me how to dispel Genjutsu and stuff?"

Her gaze lowered by slight fractions. Thankfully, her mask was still in place, so he could not see her left eyebrow slightly ascend. Yet, despite standing at attention, her body never moving nor making any slightest indication as to the change of her willingness to either listen or aid him in any manner, he somehow knew she was intrigued.

"Oh! Yeah, that's right you wouldn't know!" He grinned, "I made an awesome deal with jiji about mastering the entire Academy syllabus in one week and acing the graduation exams! Once I've done that, he'll let me become a Genin-ttebayo!"

"Impossible."

The word had escaped her mouth out of pure reflex. It was an incredible failing, considering her status as a distinguished member of the ANBU corps, known and renowned for impeccable emotional control.

However, she could not help it.

The boy in question merely blinked at her.

"Huh?"

Her opinion, she knew, could not supersede that of the Hokage's, yet, she inwardly debated on whether or not it was the wisest thing to do to state it. Though the Sandaime may deny it, or perhaps, refute it, there was a clear bond between him and the young boy – Uzumaki Naruto. The last thing she needed was a reprimand from her superior officer.

"What d'ya mean by 'impossible?'"

She decided there was no need to continue. Her initial utterance had been instinct, a slip of tongue, a rare moment of embarrassing lack of professionalism caused by the inherent surprise and frank, sheer ludicrousness of the boy's claims.

"Oi! There's no way I'm gonna let you just clam back up after that!"

Her amusement was mostly internalized. What exactly did the boy think or believe he could do to her that would make her speak?

"Tch."

Did the boy actually click his tongue at her?

"Oi – ANBU-san, just cause you don't think you can do something, doesn't mean you should place that limitation on other people-ttebayo."

 _Excuse me?_

Was he baiting her? Was that a comment made purely to incite a negative reaction? Because if it was, Yugao would applaud the stroke of genius at the boy finding just the _exact_ right buttons to push, and then she would promptly concede to her ANBU training, stifling her emotional response in turn and not deeming him worthy of a rebuttal.

However, it wasn't. She could tell, from his eyes, his posture, the manner in which he had said it, the stress and articulation –

Those words had not been uttered as fighting words. They had been uttered as _facts_.

"To believe," she began, "For even a _second_ , that you could master the entire Academy Syllabus in one week is the _height_ of either arrogance, or ignorance."

"Oi –"

"Such a belief is both an insult to the entire Konoha Academy, and every student who required _years_ to pass through its halls and become distinguished Shinobi of the Village. You are essentially dismissing their struggles, growth and achievements there as a complete waste of time and energy."

"But…" he frowned, " _Isn't it?_ "

She scoffed. "And what, _you_ think you are _better_ than them? Than _everyone else_?"

He was grinning. Grinning like a loon, the fool.

"I _know_ I am-ttebayo! I'm going to become the _strongest Hokage that ever lived!_ "

Yugao merely shook her head. What in the world did the Sandaime see in this boy exactly?

"Arrogance and stupidity make for a rather dangerous combo."

The boy held up his right palm, all five fingers outstretched.

"Five days."

There was a glint in his eyes, one that wasn't there before, she noted. A spark, like a tiny firefly had been placed into round, cerulean lanterns. Depth filled those orbs with a sense of severity that Yugao was not certain she had ever seen from accomplished ANBU Commanders, let alone upstart academy students.

"In five days ANBU-san – I'm gonna make you eat those words."

She watched him, as he grabbed a handful of scrolls, books and parchments that had been scattered around, all the Sandaime's notes, and then, he headed towards the door, his right hand still raised.

"Five days dattebayo."

The door to the Hokage's office closed with a soft click.

The resounding silence made the professional woman let out a brief, slightly irritated breath. Her head shook. This was no time for her to be contemplating the inner workings of a child's delusions of grandeur. She had a job to complete, and a Chunin to question about the nature of a particularly mouthy student.

"Uzumaki Naruto…"

Somehow, there was a nagging sensation at the back of her mind that she would be hearing that name a lot more often than she would like.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was annoyed.

Powerful explosions rocked a desolate training ground. Earth shattered and was sent uprooted into the sky as though the very foundations of soil had been replaced with gunpowder and dynamite. Sonic booms echoed repeatedly, like chaotic claps of clamoring giant.

In a blur of speed, the aged Hokage appeared on a treetop, fully garbed in his combat form, scuffled, battered, and clearly exhausted. Yet, despite this, he found his left eye twitching heavily in annoyance as he heaved a giant staff in his hand over his shoulder, and a stream of words came pouring into his right ear.

"…clearly the stupidest thing you have ever done Hiruzen! Even counting the time with Daimyo Hakamura's four daughters! Telling Maito Gai to "not hold back", do you possess a death wish? Are you impatient for the Shinigami's blade Hiruzen?"

The Sandaime Hokage continued to let his left eye twitch. "Enma-dono… perhaps I… underestimated Gai-kun's zeal…"

"Underestimated?" the voice was baffled "Did you not see the fire burning in his eyes as he declared he would beat the youth back into your body?!"

"I had assumed he was speaking metaphorically…"

"YOSH!"

The echo of a loud battle-cry was the only warning both individuals received as Hiruzen leaped backwards, not a second too soon, as the tree that had owned the branch he was standing on, faced a brutal execution by a green blur. The tree was uprooted from the ground with a sickening crack that could only have resounded from the force of a kick, and it was then immediately sent as a missile towards the airborne Kage.

Twirling the adamantium staff in his hands in the manner of fan blades, Hiruzen smashed the tree into millions of unrecognizable splinters, before creating a one-handed sign that sent a nameless generic wind technique rushing towards the splinters and transforming them into razor sharp weapons soaring through the air towards their target.

"Amazing! Hokage-sama, your adaptability is a feature of pure YOUTH! I will respond in kind most earnestly!"

The green clad man launched forward, a powerful fist slamming into the air, creating enough pressure to completely disperse the storm of splinters.

Enma grumbled. "Is there anything this man cannot do with his fists?!"

There was no time for Hiruzen to respond, as Gai appeared in front of him in a blur of movement, and his hands had already began moving in anticipation.

Every punch that Gai threw possessed the same force as a cannonball launching at Mach speeds. Every block that Hiruzen made successfully with his staff had the side-effect of rattling and cracking his bones, skidding him backward with every successive hit.

The Hokage found himself entirely on the defensive in the midst of the fierce assault, as his speed was outmatched, his strength was outmatched, his reaction time was utterly outmatched –

Only instinct, pure, unadulterated instinct born from years and years of combat experience –

It was all he could rely on.

Only instinct enabled him to block every incoming punch, to time every fiery kick, to account for every feint and every surprise maneuver.

Still, instinct alone was not enough.

A kick finally connected with his stomach, the aged Hokage's eyes going wide as spittle and blood flew from his mouth. He folded in half like a chair from the impact, even as he felt the sandaled leg shatter his armor like tissue, certainly crack a rib or two, and sent him soaring backwards like a hapless old man.

"Hiruzen!"

"Hokage-sama!"

The staff in his hands transformed into the form of the Monkey King, as Enma was able to stop their momentum and shield the Kage before they crashed into, and _through_ a series of trees.

Hiruzen felt his entire world spinning, as dizziness and fatigue crashed into him all at once. His bones felt as though they were on fire and his legs were numb as though he had been struck by concurrent lightning techniques.

Belatedly, he supposed it was indeed a bad idea to have insisted that Konoha's foremost taijutsu specialist not hold back against him in their spar. Yet, despite his age, Hiruzen possessed his pride, he had his pride as the Hokage, as the man who was supposed to be the guardian of the people of Konoha. Telling Gai to have gone easy on him would be an insult not only to himself, but to Gai and to the people of Konoha in its entirety.

Still, he had not expected such a one-sided battle.

"Age has most certainly not been kind to you Hiruzen."

Most would have taken offense to the comment, yet, Hiruzen knew his partner, he knew Enma, and he knew that the Monkey King was a being to tell it as it was, and he could detect the trace of melancholy in the creature's words.

Hiruzen, for his part, laughed, however little he could without hurting his damaged ribs, as he lay on the ground and gazed up into the large blue skies above him.

"I suppose it has not."

Perhaps, it was a folly of him to have clung on to this post for far too long? Perhaps, he supposed, it was time to storm mourning his successor.

"Eagle. Boar."

Two brief bursts of smoke accompanied the arrival of the ANBU agents.

"Send a messenger bird to Jiraiya… and Tsunade."

* * *

Mizuki was not a content man.

He did not feel any true satisfaction from slaving away for the children in the Academy, the ungrateful bunch, to whom he hoped, and prayed, that they would get brutally slaughtered on their very first missions. Some of them perhaps, like the Uchiha boy, showed promise, tremendous promise, and those rare talents that were actually capable of becoming deadly shinobi, he cultivated and promoted. The rest however, were an amalgamation of welcome mats and dusty staircases in which their more talented colleagues would eventually step on and climb in their ascent to greatness.

The Academy's syllabus was a joke, the type of joke that could be found in a fifty ryo book on the clearance pile in a discarded gift shop. Either the Hokage had grown senile from his numerous years in office, or it was all a deliberate ploy by some higher powers to cripple the development of Konoha by methodically severing the roots.

He snorted, shaking his head as he enjoyed his cup of coffee. Lunch break was not the time to begin contemplating possible conspiracy theories. For now, he would enjoy the relative safety and paycheck offered to him as a member of the teaching staff. Less than what he would get if he was in the field, but the lack of life-threatening situations was a suitable trade off.

It also helped that the… _thing_ had long since stop attending the Academy. With such horrible attendance rates, there was no doubt in Mizuki's mind that _it_ would never graduate, much less wear the proud headband of the village and perform missions in her honor.

Hence, for the first time in a long while, life was looking up for Mizuki.

"Holy shit! All of you get in here! Umino's finally snapped!"

And, it seemed that it was about to get better.

Dropping his tea in the teacher's lounge, a group of his co-workers all turned to stare at each other, before they followed the shout of another one of their peers.

"Umino? You're telling me that pansy finally lost it? Took him a while."

Mizuki could not help but agree. Umino Iruka was one of his least favorite people in the world, perhaps, if only because the man was a venomous serpent who had chosen to hide his fangs and live as a glorified worm. He was a well-rounded shinobi, _perfectly_ well-rounded. The idiot probably did not even realize how amazingly absurd it was to be talented at _every_ major shinobi art, and be suitably knowledgeable in every minor one. Most Chunin focused on merely _one_ , whereas those who had the potential for Jonin or Special Jonin focused on _two_ , and even then, they didn't have the aptitude necessary to be well balanced at _three or more_. Umino on the other hand, was a passable sensor, passable genjutsu specialist, passable taijutsu specialist, passable ninjutsu specialist, passable shurikenjutsu specialist, slightly below-passable fuinjutsu and weapons specialist –

There had been one person like that, a man who was a jack of all trades in his younger years, who had no special redeeming abilities or overwhelming clan bloodlines – all he had, was a well-grounded base and talent for every shinobi art.

That man eventually became the Sandaime Hokage.

Yet, someone like Umino, had chosen instead to spend the rest of his life wiping noses and cleaning asses. A complete and utter waste. Mizuki felt, that if he had the same aptitude Umino did, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have become a Special Jonin by now, if not Jonin or ANBU.

"You have to see this – I – I'm not sure if what Umino is doing is allowed… or legal."

Mizuki rose an eyebrow. Had the worm finally grown fangs?

He, alongside a group of other teachers made their way outside, where they found the class which they had dubbed the "Clan Kids and Co.", and Umino Iruka, standing all around something large, white, and most certainly dangerous.

Mizuki blinked.

"…is that a wolf?"


End file.
